From Arizona Athletics
The Arizona Wildcats dropped their opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night, falling to Sam Houston State 5-4 at Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field.
Arizona dropped to 37-20 and will now face fourth-seeded Delaware Saturday at 12 p.m., MST in an elimination game. Delaware fell to Texas Tech 5-2 in the first game of the day of the Lubbock Regional.
Sam Houston State never trailed in the affair. The Bearkats got on the scoreboard first, scoring a run in the second inning. The visitors struck for back-to-back ground ball singles to put two on with no outs.
Arizona starter JC Cloney then got Blake Chisolm to ground to Louis Boyd at shortstop, who stepped on the bag for one out. His throw to first baseman JJ Matijevic skipped past him, allowing the runner from second base, Clayton Harp, to score the first run of the game.
But an inning later, Arizona tied the game. The Cats loaded the bases with no outs for JJ Matijevic. Matijevic hit a sharp ground ball to first base, allowing Kyle Lewis to score. The Cats still had runners on the corners with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning. There, the Bearkats put two men on with two outs for catcher Robie Rojas. Rojas hit a 1-0 pitch from Cloney over the wall in centerfield for a three-run home run to put the Bearkats up 4-1.
Arizona got a run back an inning later when Ryan Haug led off the inning with a triple. Two batters later, Cesar Salazar brought Haug home with an RBI groundout to make it 4-2.
Sam Houston State extended its lead an inning later when ninth-place hitter Taylor Beene singled to score a run.
Arizona responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning though. With Boyd on second and one out, Matijevic singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Jared Oliva and Alfonso Rivas came through with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 5-4. Oliva scored Boyd and Rivas brought home Matijevic. The Cats still had runners on the corners with one out, but a bunt from Haug back to the pitcher went right back to the plate to get Oliva for the second out of the inning. A hard line out to right by Nick Quintana then ended the inning.
Arizona had two men reach in the eighth when Boyd and Cal Stevenson coaxed back-to-back two-out walks to bring up Matijevic. The first baseman struck out swinging to end the inning.
Right-hander Michael Flynn, who tossed a scoreless eighth inning, pitched a perfect ninth to give Arizona one final chance. Rivas doubled with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the game and gave the Bearkats the win.
Cloney went seven innings, allowing 10 hits, five runs, four earned and striking out five. He didn’t issue any walks. Flynn pitched two hitless innings, striking out three.
The Arizona Wildcats dropped their opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night, falling to Sam Houston State 5-4 at Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field.
Arizona dropped to 37-20 and will now face fourth-seeded Delaware Saturday at 12 p.m., MST in an elimination game. Delaware fell to Texas Tech 5-2 in the first game of the day of the Lubbock Regional.
Sam Houston State never trailed in the affair. The Bearkats got on the scoreboard first, scoring a run in the second inning. The visitors struck for back-to-back ground ball singles to put two on with no outs.
Arizona starter JC Cloney then got Blake Chisolm to ground to Louis Boyd at shortstop, who stepped on the bag for one out. His throw to first baseman JJ Matijevic skipped past him, allowing the runner from second base, Clayton Harp, to score the first run of the game.
But an inning later, Arizona tied the game. The Cats loaded the bases with no outs for JJ Matijevic. Matijevic hit a sharp ground ball to first base, allowing Kyle Lewis to score. The Cats still had runners on the corners with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until the sixth inning. There, the Bearkats put two men on with two outs for catcher Robie Rojas. Rojas hit a 1-0 pitch from Cloney over the wall in centerfield for a three-run home run to put the Bearkats up 4-1.
Arizona got a run back an inning later when Ryan Haug led off the inning with a triple. Two batters later, Cesar Salazar brought Haug home with an RBI groundout to make it 4-2.
Sam Houston State extended its lead an inning later when ninth-place hitter Taylor Beene singled to score a run.
Arizona responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning though. With Boyd on second and one out, Matijevic singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Jared Oliva and Alfonso Rivas came through with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 5-4. Oliva scored Boyd and Rivas brought home Matijevic. The Cats still had runners on the corners with one out, but a bunt from Haug back to the pitcher went right back to the plate to get Oliva for the second out of the inning. A hard line out to right by Nick Quintana then ended the inning.
Arizona had two men reach in the eighth when Boyd and Cal Stevenson coaxed back-to-back two-out walks to bring up Matijevic. The first baseman struck out swinging to end the inning.
Right-hander Michael Flynn, who tossed a scoreless eighth inning, pitched a perfect ninth to give Arizona one final chance. Rivas doubled with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the game and gave the Bearkats the win.
Cloney went seven innings, allowing 10 hits, five runs, four earned and striking out five. He didn’t issue any walks. Flynn pitched two hitless innings, striking out three.
