Arizona baseball is back in the win column after routing New Mexico State 14-0 Tuesday, March 20 evening at Hi Corbett Field. After going 0-3 on the past road trip in Washington, the friendly confines of Tucson were a welcoming sight for the Wildcats.
“If you’re asking me specifically about Washington, I tip my hat to them they pitched well,” manager Jay Johnson said. “It was a tough environment to hit in, it was slow turf in the infield so it was hard to hit a ground ball through, it was cold and the wind was blowing straight in.”
The ‘Cats let out some frustration and drew first blood in the bottom of the third inning after senior Alfonso Rivas hit a standup triple on a line drive into the gap of center field to bring home teammate Jacob Blas from second.
The Wildcats added five more runs in the fourth inning off a Ryan Haug and Cameron Cannon single, a Jacob Blas double and a Cal Stevenson triple to take a commanding 6-0 lead. The ‘Cats eventually added eight more runs boosting their lead to 14-0.
Senior pitcher Juan Aguilera got his first-career win as starter for the Arizona. Aguilera came into Tuesday night’s game with a 2-0 record as a reliever and a 1.23 ERA in his six appearances. Aguilera ended his night pitching a solid six complete innings, while giving up three hits and striking out six.
“I thought it was outstanding,” Johnson said of Aguilera’s performance. “Because he throws three pitches for strikes he can fulfill multiple roles, we needed to get picked up tonight and that was a great job by Juan.”
Aguilera credited his strong performance to his use of offspeed pitches.
“Most of my curve balls and tried to catch them off guard with my fastball,” Aguilera said.
The only thing that did not go the Wildcat’s way on Tuesday was when sophomore Matt Frazier hit a bullet into center field that was cut off by Aggies outfielder Marcus Still and the relay back into the infield beat out Frazier at third base.
With the blowout win, Arizona swept the season series versus New Mexico State after previously beating the Aggies 5-4 on Feb. 27.
Arizona (11-9) returns to the diamond Friday evening at Hi Corbett Field as the ‘Cats host a three game series against the Washington State Cougars (4-12) who are currently on a five-game losing streak. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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