From Arizona Athletics
The Arizona Wildcats suffered their second straight walk-off loss Sunday afternoon at Husky Ballpark, falling to Washington 3-2 in 10 innings.
The loss was Arizona’s seventh one-run loss of the season and third extra innings setback. The Wildcats are now 10-9 overall and 0-3 in Pac-12 play.
The Wildcats will look to rebound Tuesday when they return home to Hi Corbett Field to host New Mexico State in a midweek matchup. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 6 p.m.
On Sunday, the first runs of the game didn’t come until the seventh inning when the Huskies struck for two runs. Catcher Nick Kahle led off the inning with a double, and moved to third when the next batter, Joe Wainhouse, grounded out to first base. The Wildcats went to the bullpen at that point, replacing starter Avery Weems with right-hander Preston Price.
The sophomore got Ben Baird to line out for the second out of the inning. The Cats again went to the bullpen, bringing in left-hander Gil Luna to face left-handed hitter Christian Jones with two outs and Kahle on third. Jones homered to right on a 1-1 count to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. Luna eventually got a strikeout to escape the inning without any further damage after a pair of walks.
Arizona didn’t waste any time responding to Jones’ blast. In the eighth, Ryan Haug led the inning off with a line drive single to right field. Freshman designated hitter Tate Soderstrom followed with an opposite field double down the left field line to move Haug to third and put two on with no outs.
Washington went to the bullpen, bringing in right-hander Alex Hardy to face shortstop Jacob Blas. Blas grounded out to short, but it was hit hard enough and deep enough to score Haug and move Soderstrom up to third. Cal Stevenson followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Soderstrom and knot the game at two.
Reliever Tylor Megill entered for the eighth and tossed a shutdown inning, keeping the Huskies off the scoreboard and the game remained tied.
Arizona got two runners on in the ninth with one out, but couldn’t bring them around. Megill tossed a scoreless ninth to send the game into extras. Again in the 10th, the Cats had two men reach when Stevenson and Alfonso Rivas each singled with two outs. But a hard ground out from Nick Quintana ended the threat and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard.
In the bottom half of the 10th, Washington’s Noah Hsue singled up the middle with one out to plate Kaiser Weiss for the winning run. Megill, despite pitching strong in relief, was saddled with the loss. He pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing just the one run. Weems went a career-high 6 1/3 innings, giving up four hits and one run, while striking out three.
Catcher Cesar Salazar led the offense, going 2 for 4 with a double.
The Arizona Wildcats suffered their second straight walk-off loss Sunday afternoon at Husky Ballpark, falling to Washington 3-2 in 10 innings.
The loss was Arizona’s seventh one-run loss of the season and third extra innings setback. The Wildcats are now 10-9 overall and 0-3 in Pac-12 play.
The Wildcats will look to rebound Tuesday when they return home to Hi Corbett Field to host New Mexico State in a midweek matchup. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 6 p.m.
On Sunday, the first runs of the game didn’t come until the seventh inning when the Huskies struck for two runs. Catcher Nick Kahle led off the inning with a double, and moved to third when the next batter, Joe Wainhouse, grounded out to first base. The Wildcats went to the bullpen at that point, replacing starter Avery Weems with right-hander Preston Price.
The sophomore got Ben Baird to line out for the second out of the inning. The Cats again went to the bullpen, bringing in left-hander Gil Luna to face left-handed hitter Christian Jones with two outs and Kahle on third. Jones homered to right on a 1-1 count to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. Luna eventually got a strikeout to escape the inning without any further damage after a pair of walks.
Arizona didn’t waste any time responding to Jones’ blast. In the eighth, Ryan Haug led the inning off with a line drive single to right field. Freshman designated hitter Tate Soderstrom followed with an opposite field double down the left field line to move Haug to third and put two on with no outs.
Washington went to the bullpen, bringing in right-hander Alex Hardy to face shortstop Jacob Blas. Blas grounded out to short, but it was hit hard enough and deep enough to score Haug and move Soderstrom up to third. Cal Stevenson followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Soderstrom and knot the game at two.
Reliever Tylor Megill entered for the eighth and tossed a shutdown inning, keeping the Huskies off the scoreboard and the game remained tied.
Arizona got two runners on in the ninth with one out, but couldn’t bring them around. Megill tossed a scoreless ninth to send the game into extras. Again in the 10th, the Cats had two men reach when Stevenson and Alfonso Rivas each singled with two outs. But a hard ground out from Nick Quintana ended the threat and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard.
In the bottom half of the 10th, Washington’s Noah Hsue singled up the middle with one out to plate Kaiser Weiss for the winning run. Megill, despite pitching strong in relief, was saddled with the loss. He pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing just the one run. Weems went a career-high 6 1/3 innings, giving up four hits and one run, while striking out three.
Catcher Cesar Salazar led the offense, going 2 for 4 with a double.
