The road to Omaha, Nebraska, begins Friday for the No. 21 University of Arizona baseball team as the Wildcats open play in Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Regional against Big West champion California Polytechnic State University. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at PK Park, with the game airing on ESPN+.
Arizona (39-18), fresh off a Big 12 Championship, enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in a loaded regional that includes host and No. 5 ranked Oregon, as well as Utah Valley University. The Wildcats are making their 44th NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth straight under head coach Chip Hale.
They’ll face a surging Cal Poly (41-17), the No. 3 seed, who stunned the Big West by winning four of five games at the conference tournament, including back-to-back upsets over ranked University of California, Irvine to clinch their first regional berth since 2014.
Arizona will send right-hander Owen Kramkowski (8-5, 5.03 ERA) to the mound, while Cal Poly counters with Griffin Naess (7-2, 3.38 ERA), one of several arms in a deep Mustangs rotation that helped power their late-season run.
Offensively, the Wildcats will be led by All-Big 12 shortstop Mason White, who’s hitting .450 with 10 RBIs over his current five-game hitting streak. Catcher Adonys Guzman, a Buster Posey Award Semifinalist, has hit safely in seven straight and continues to shine behind the plate. Arizona closer Tony Pluta, the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, anchors a bullpen that ranks among the most effective in the country.
Cal Poly’s resurgence was sparked by a defining road win at then No. 1 Texas A&M University in March. They went on to post a record-setting 23 Big West victories, one of them being manager Larry Lee’s 700th career win.
While Arizona leads the all-time series 2-0, Friday’s matchup promises to be anything but routine. The Mustangs have shown they can win in a variety of ways — by slugging, by pitching or by grinding out close games.
With a trip to the winner’s bracket on the line and both teams playing well, Friday’s clash in Eugene has the makings of an NCAA Regional classic.
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