The Arizona baseball team was victorious over Grand Canyon University on Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. The exciting extra-inning game ended with a score of 10-9.
The sophomore right-handed pitcher Anthony “Tonko” Susac got the start on the mound for the 13-9 Wildcats.
GCU centerfielder Homer Bush Jr. led off the first inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on a passed ball. Bush would score on an RBI-single through the right side from junior shortstop Jacob Wilson to make it a 1-0 ball game before Susac finished the inning.
The Wildcats regained the lead in the bottom of the first after Chase Davis took right-handed GCU pitcher Carter Young deep to left center field to drive in both Mac Bingham and himself to make it 2-1 Arizona heading into the second inning.
Susac allowed another run in the second after Bush doubled down the right field line for his second hit of the game. This drove in catcher Josh Buckley to tie it up at 2-2. The Wildcats responded with yet another 2-run home run. This one came off the bat of Emilio Corona to drive in catcher Tommy Splaine and himself and make it 4-2 Wildcats after two innings.
Susac cruised through the top of the third with a three-up, three-down inning to get Arizona back to the plate. Davis homered again, this time to right center field, to make it 5-2 Wildcats.
The top of the fourth left GCU scoreless again, with Derek Drees coming in to relieve Susac to get the final out of the inning to keep the score 5-2. The Wildcat bats went cold in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the fifth was scoreless as well. Left-handed freshman pitcher Grant Richardson was brought in for the Antelopes. The sixth was also scoreless for both sides as the pitchers hit their groove with matching three-up, three-down innings.
The seventh inning was very eventful and caused two pitching changes for each team. GCU took the lead in the top of the seventh, scoring 4 runs to make it 6-5 GCU. Nik McClaughry retaliated for the Wildcats with a 3-run home run to regain the lead 8-6 heading into the eighth inning.
Arizona blew through two more pitchers in the eighth, giving up the lead once again for a score of 9-8 GCU. The Wildcats weren’t able to respond in the bottom of the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth with one out, Bingham came up clutch with an RBI-double to tie the game at 9-9 and send it into extra innings.
Trevor Long held the Antelopes to no runs in the 10th despite two hits. Arizona wasted no time getting a man in scoring position with a Tyler Casagrande double. Tonight’s hero was Corona, who singled to drive in Casagrande to secure the Wildcats’ 14th win of the season by a score of 10-9.
Arizona will face the University of Oregon at home for a three-game weekend series starting on Friday, March 31, at 6 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson.
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