From Arizona Athletics
Nathan Bannister earned his eighth win of the season, pitching into the ninth inning, to help the Arizona Wildcats earn a 5-4 win over the Oregon Ducks on Sunday afternoon at PK Park.
The victory gave the Wildcats a winning Pac-12 record at 16-14 and improved their overall record to 33-20. The 16 league wins are the most since the 2012 team went 20-10 in conference play before eventually capturing a national championship.
The Cats will wrap up their season with five nonconference games starting Tuesday. Arizona will host Abilene Christian on Tuesday and Wednesday, before traveling to Hawaii for a three-game series starting Friday night.
Bannister was characteristically strong from the start in Sunday’s performance. The senior, who has gone at least six innings in each of his last eight starts, worked a 1-2-3 first inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Jake Bennett in the second, but after a strikeout, erased Bennett when he got catcher Tim Susnara to ground into a 3-6-3 double play.
The Cats grabbed Bannister a lead in the third inning with a three-run frame. Cody Ramer started the big inning with a one-out double down the right field line. Zach Gibbons followed with an infield single to third base to move Ramer up a bag and put runners on the corners with one out for third-place hitter Alfonso Rivas.
Rivas jumped on a fastball from Oregon’s Matt Mercer and lined it to right-centerfield for a base hit to easily score Ramer from third. Oregon right fielder Jake Bennett booted the ball as he went to field it, which allowed Gibbons to score all the way from first and advanced Rivas up a base to second.
Ryan Aguilar moved Rivas to third on a groundout and then JJ Matijevic came through with a two-out single to center to score Rivas and make it 3-0 Wildcats.
Two innings later, Arizona increased its lead with a two-run fifth. Ramer and Gibbons again started the rally for the Cats. The two seniors started the inning with back-to-back singles and each moved up a base when Rivas dropped down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by the third baseman.
Aguilar popped out to shortstop for the second out and then Oregon opted to intentionally walk Matijevic to load the bases for Kyle Lewis. Lewis hit a sharp ground ball to third base that Oregon’s Daniel Patzlaff couldn’t handle. Both Ramer and Gibbons came around to score to make it 5-0.
The five runs were more than enough for Bannister. The senior righty allowed two men to reach in the bottom of the fifth, but struck out shortstop Travis Moniot to end the threat and keep Oregon off the scoreboard.
After giving up a leadoff single in the sixth, Bannister retired the next six batters he faced to get to the eighth. Carson Breshears greeted Bannister with a leadoff single in the eighth, Bannister struck out pinch-hitter Nick Catalano for the first out in the eighth. Austin Grebeck then singled to put runners on the corners with one out.
The Ducks plated their first run off Bannister when Kyle Kasser plated Breshears with an RBI groundout to make it 5-1. Bannister quickly recovered, striking out AJ Balta for his fifth punch out of the game.
Oregon tried to rally in the ninth, plating three runs. But with two outs and runners on second and third, left-hander Rio Gomez entered and got a groundout to second to finish off the game and earn his first career save.
Bannister improved to 8-2, pitching 8 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out five.
Offensively, Ramer and Gibbons each had two hits and two runs scored in the victory to help pace the Cats from the top of the lineup.
Nathan Bannister earned his eighth win of the season, pitching into the ninth inning, to help the Arizona Wildcats earn a 5-4 win over the Oregon Ducks on Sunday afternoon at PK Park.
The victory gave the Wildcats a winning Pac-12 record at 16-14 and improved their overall record to 33-20. The 16 league wins are the most since the 2012 team went 20-10 in conference play before eventually capturing a national championship.
The Cats will wrap up their season with five nonconference games starting Tuesday. Arizona will host Abilene Christian on Tuesday and Wednesday, before traveling to Hawaii for a three-game series starting Friday night.
Bannister was characteristically strong from the start in Sunday’s performance. The senior, who has gone at least six innings in each of his last eight starts, worked a 1-2-3 first inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Jake Bennett in the second, but after a strikeout, erased Bennett when he got catcher Tim Susnara to ground into a 3-6-3 double play.
The Cats grabbed Bannister a lead in the third inning with a three-run frame. Cody Ramer started the big inning with a one-out double down the right field line. Zach Gibbons followed with an infield single to third base to move Ramer up a bag and put runners on the corners with one out for third-place hitter Alfonso Rivas.
Rivas jumped on a fastball from Oregon’s Matt Mercer and lined it to right-centerfield for a base hit to easily score Ramer from third. Oregon right fielder Jake Bennett booted the ball as he went to field it, which allowed Gibbons to score all the way from first and advanced Rivas up a base to second.
Ryan Aguilar moved Rivas to third on a groundout and then JJ Matijevic came through with a two-out single to center to score Rivas and make it 3-0 Wildcats.
Two innings later, Arizona increased its lead with a two-run fifth. Ramer and Gibbons again started the rally for the Cats. The two seniors started the inning with back-to-back singles and each moved up a base when Rivas dropped down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by the third baseman.
Aguilar popped out to shortstop for the second out and then Oregon opted to intentionally walk Matijevic to load the bases for Kyle Lewis. Lewis hit a sharp ground ball to third base that Oregon’s Daniel Patzlaff couldn’t handle. Both Ramer and Gibbons came around to score to make it 5-0.
The five runs were more than enough for Bannister. The senior righty allowed two men to reach in the bottom of the fifth, but struck out shortstop Travis Moniot to end the threat and keep Oregon off the scoreboard.
After giving up a leadoff single in the sixth, Bannister retired the next six batters he faced to get to the eighth. Carson Breshears greeted Bannister with a leadoff single in the eighth, Bannister struck out pinch-hitter Nick Catalano for the first out in the eighth. Austin Grebeck then singled to put runners on the corners with one out.
The Ducks plated their first run off Bannister when Kyle Kasser plated Breshears with an RBI groundout to make it 5-1. Bannister quickly recovered, striking out AJ Balta for his fifth punch out of the game.
Oregon tried to rally in the ninth, plating three runs. But with two outs and runners on second and third, left-hander Rio Gomez entered and got a groundout to second to finish off the game and earn his first career save.
Bannister improved to 8-2, pitching 8 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out five.
Offensively, Ramer and Gibbons each had two hits and two runs scored in the victory to help pace the Cats from the top of the lineup.
