From Arizona Athletics
Senior Juan Aguilera dominated in his first career start, and Arizona posted a season high in runs, topping New Mexico State 14-0 Tuesday night in front of 2,802 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
The win improved Arizona to 11-9 on the season and 9-0 at home. New Mexico State dropped to 13-9 as the Wildcats swept both games against the Aggies this season.
Aguilera tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out six. The six innings and six strikeouts both established career highs for Aguilera, who improved to 3-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.68. Aguilera never allowed a runner past first base in his six innings of work, giving up just three singles, a walk and hitting one batter.
The righty got more than enough run support from his offense, which pounded out 15 hits and saw four players register multiple hit games.
The Cats first got on the board in the third inning. Freshman shortstop Jacob Blas led off the inning with an infield single, and eventually moved to second base on a wild pitch. He moved up another base on a deep fly ball from Cal Stevenson. Two batters later, with two outs, Alfonso Rivas drove Blas home with a triple into the right-centerfield gap to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
The next inning, Arizona provided Aguilera with plenty of breathing room with a five-run fourth inning. The frame began with back-to-back walks from Cesar Salazar and Blake Paugh. Matt Fraizer then dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners up a base. Ryan Haug drove in Salazar with an infield hit to make it 2-0. Blas then singled for his second straight at-bat to plate Paugh.
The next batter, Stevenson, roped a triple to right-center to score Haug and Blas and extend the lead to 5-0. The scoring concluded with an RBI single from Cameron Cannon that plated Stevenson.
The Cats went back to work two innings later in the sixth to pour on the runs. Stevenson started the inning with his second triple of the game. The Cats then loaded the bases when Rivas and Nick Quintana drew back-to-back walks. Salazar cleared the bases with a double to left field to extend the lead to 9-0. Salazar eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-0.
An inning later in the seventh, Arizona scored four more runs. Cannon had a two-run double in the inning and Paugh came through with a two-run single.
Cannon finished 3 for 5 with three RBI and a run scored to lift his batting average to .320. Paugh and Blas, both freshmen, went 2 for 3. Paugh drove in two and scored one run, while Blas scored three runs and drove in one. Stevenson finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI to go with his two triples.
Right-handers Preston Price, Jonathan Guardado and Zach Stone combined for three scoreless innings in relief of Aguilera to close out the win.
The Wildcats return to action Friday night when they open a three-game series against Washington State in the team’s first home Pac-12 series of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Senior Juan Aguilera dominated in his first career start, and Arizona posted a season high in runs, topping New Mexico State 14-0 Tuesday night in front of 2,802 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
The win improved Arizona to 11-9 on the season and 9-0 at home. New Mexico State dropped to 13-9 as the Wildcats swept both games against the Aggies this season.
Aguilera tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out six. The six innings and six strikeouts both established career highs for Aguilera, who improved to 3-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.68. Aguilera never allowed a runner past first base in his six innings of work, giving up just three singles, a walk and hitting one batter.
The righty got more than enough run support from his offense, which pounded out 15 hits and saw four players register multiple hit games.
The Cats first got on the board in the third inning. Freshman shortstop Jacob Blas led off the inning with an infield single, and eventually moved to second base on a wild pitch. He moved up another base on a deep fly ball from Cal Stevenson. Two batters later, with two outs, Alfonso Rivas drove Blas home with a triple into the right-centerfield gap to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
The next inning, Arizona provided Aguilera with plenty of breathing room with a five-run fourth inning. The frame began with back-to-back walks from Cesar Salazar and Blake Paugh. Matt Fraizer then dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners up a base. Ryan Haug drove in Salazar with an infield hit to make it 2-0. Blas then singled for his second straight at-bat to plate Paugh.
The next batter, Stevenson, roped a triple to right-center to score Haug and Blas and extend the lead to 5-0. The scoring concluded with an RBI single from Cameron Cannon that plated Stevenson.
The Cats went back to work two innings later in the sixth to pour on the runs. Stevenson started the inning with his second triple of the game. The Cats then loaded the bases when Rivas and Nick Quintana drew back-to-back walks. Salazar cleared the bases with a double to left field to extend the lead to 9-0. Salazar eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-0.
An inning later in the seventh, Arizona scored four more runs. Cannon had a two-run double in the inning and Paugh came through with a two-run single.
Cannon finished 3 for 5 with three RBI and a run scored to lift his batting average to .320. Paugh and Blas, both freshmen, went 2 for 3. Paugh drove in two and scored one run, while Blas scored three runs and drove in one. Stevenson finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI to go with his two triples.
Right-handers Preston Price, Jonathan Guardado and Zach Stone combined for three scoreless innings in relief of Aguilera to close out the win.
The Wildcats return to action Friday night when they open a three-game series against Washington State in the team’s first home Pac-12 series of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
