Series victory: mission accomplished
All streaks are meant to end. On Sunday it happened to two notable stretches of prosperity for Arizona.
The Wildcats lost 13-6 to TCU, missing out on a series sweep, and in the process dropped a home series finale for the first time since the end of the 2023 season. It was also the first time in more than a year they lost a game when scoring at least six runs, ending a streak of 27 consecutive wins.
Arizona (33-14, 15-9) dropped into a 3-way tie for third place in the Big 12 with Kansas and TCU with six games to go. The Wildcats finish up with two of the worst teams in the league, hosting last-place Utah next weekend before finishing at Houston, with the goal of finishing in the top four spots to get a bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals.
“If we just win the next two series, I think we’ll put ourselves in good shape, whatever place we are,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “If things get weird and we’re out of the top four, then we’re out of the top four, but we’ve got to be playing our best baseball going into the Big 12 Tournament.”
A 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning was the UA’s only advantage as its pitching struggled from the outset. Freshman Smith Bailey was chased in the 4th and allowed four runs, dropping to 1-3, but the bullpen wasn’t much better. Four of six relievers allowed runs as TCU (33-15, 15-9) put up the biggest run total of an Arizona opponent this season.
Arizona had seven hits but only one of them drove in a run. The Wildcats’ first five runs came on either groundouts, sacrifice flies or errors before Garen Caulfield singled home Adonys Guzman to get the Wildcats as close as 10-6.
“Obviously let this this one get away early, but I was really proud of the guys the way they battled.”
Not helping Arizona’s cause was a stiff wind that was alternately blowing in and swirling. That more than likely kept Aaron Walton from having another multi-homer game like on Friday, instead leaving him 0 for 4 with his 17th hit by pitch of the season, tied for 6th-most in school history.
Caulfield was the lone Wildcat with two hits, while Maddox Mihalakis had a pair of run-scoring outs. Mason White had a triple, the NCAA-leading 29th of the season for Arizona, and drove in a run with a sac fly to go 6 for 12 for the series.
“It was a success, took two of three against a really good team,” White said. “Our goal is to win the conference, we have to keep striving to win the conference.”
Catching first-place West Virginia (39-7, 18-4) is unlikely, but Arizona can still finish second as it has the tiebreaker over ASU (32-17, 16-8) and finishes with arguably the easiest schedule of the top teams in the league. First, though, is one last midweek game at Grand Canyon on Tuesday.
Hale said that Brendan Summerhill, who suffered a strained hamstring last weekend at Texas Tech, could DH in Phoenix with a potential return to right field in the home series finale. Summerhill pinch hit on Saturday night, driving in the game-winning run with a sac fly.
“He’s one of our dudes,” White said of Summerhill. “And we need all the dudes we can get, especially right now, so it’s gonna be really helpful when we get him back.”