For many UA students, this past week was all fun.
Not so for the Arizona baseball team that went 1-6 against three different opponents over spring break.
The Wildcats (11-15, 1-5 Pac-12 Conference) dropped two out of three against Washington State (9-11, 3-3), lost a game to Grand Canyon (11-11) and were swept in a trio of contests at Washington (16-5-1, 5-1). Sunday’s 8-0 loss to the Huskies extended Arizona’s losing streak to six, tying last season’s high.
A majority of the games were competitive; the Wildcats were outscored just 34-29 in the seven games. Five of them were decided in two runs or less.
Kicking off last weekend and its 2014 Pac-12 play, Arizona started off dominantly.
On March 14, the Wildcats crushed Washington State 12-1 as starter James Farris (4-1) tossed a complete game and second baseman Trent Gilbert drove in four runs. The Cougars won the next two games and the series at Hi Corbett Field after edging the UA 6-5 on March 15 and 3-2 the following day.
Even though its right-hander Tyger Talley (0-0) pitched 7.2 frames of one-run ball, Arizona fell 3-1 to Grand Canyon of the Western Athletic Conference last Tuesday. Shortstop Kevin Newman was 1-for-4, but his hit came at the wrong time as he was responsible for four of the Wildcats’ eight total runners left on base.
Over the past weekend, the UA traveled to Seattle to face a hot UW team that entered the series having won nine of its previous 10 games.
On Friday, Arizona had 13 total hits, but Farris wasn’t the same as he was against WSU, allowing seven earned runs over five frames in an 8-7 loss. The next night, righty Tyler Davis (4-1) had the Wildcats confused all night long, allowing just an earned run on three hits in a seven-inning gem.
The Sunday matinee game drew the largest crowd of the weekend at Husky Ballpark, and UW pulled out the brooms in an 8-0 victory to clinch the series sweep over the UA. Huskies utility man Brian Wolfe hit his second home run of the season, and, again, Arizona’s failed to get timely hits, leaving eight runners on base.
Next, the Wildcats will travel north to Tempe, Ariz., for a nonconference game versus their rival ASU (12-10, 3-3). First pitch will be Wednesday at 3 p.m.
—Follow Joey Putrelo @JoeyPutrelo
