The Utah Utes scored all six of their runs in the seventh inning en route to a 6-3 win over the Arizona baseball team on Friday night in Salt Lake City.
J.C. Cloney was scheduled to start for the Wildcats, but he was a late scratch due to an illness, leading Arizona head coach Jay Johnson to give the ball to Nate Bannister instead.
Bannister kept Utah scoreless for the first six innings, but the Utes had an offensive flurry in the bottom of the seventh. A two-run double by Josh Rose cut Arizona’s lead to 3-2, forcing Johnson to switch pitchers.
Bobby Dalbec would take over on the mound, but the pitching change proved to be ineffective. Dashawn Keirsey doubled to right center to bring home Rose, tying the game at 3-3.
Then Hunter Simmons singled to center, scoring two runs and pushing Utah ahead 5-3. Michael Flynn then replaced Dalbec, but the Utes would tack on another run via a wild pitch, extending the score to 6-3 heading into the eighth.
Bannister, who pitched 6.2 innings and allowed eight hits while striking out three, was tagged with three of the six runs, while the other three were attributed to Dalbec, who’d wind up being the losing pitcher.
Meanwhile Arizona’s offense, except for Cody Ramer, couldn’t get much going.
Ramer drove in all three of the Wildcats’ runs, including a homer to right field to lead off the game, giving them an early 1-0 lead. It was the first home run of the senior’s career at Arizona.
Then in the top of the third, Ramer drove in Cesar Salazar with an RBI groundout to put Arizona up 2-0. In his next at-bat, Ramer doubled to right, scoring Jared Oliva and giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead in the top of the sixth.
Arizona finished with just five hits, two of which were courtesy of Ramer. Utah starter Jayson Rose pitched seven innings, while striking out ten Wildcats.
Still, Arizona led for most of the game, but eventually the Utes’ offense came alive, and the Wildcats couldn’t answer.
Trailing by three in the eighth, Arizona was able to get two runners on base, but left both stranded, and then went down in order in the ninth.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 17-9 on the season and a 3-4 Pac-12 Conference record.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. Jay Johnson has yet to announce who Arizona’s starting pitcher will be.
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