The late innings have not been kind to Arizona in recent play, not just that NSFW 7th inning against Grand Canyon earlier in the week. And with the way runs were being scored on Friday night, an 11-8 lead going into the last third of the game seemed tenuous at best.
So naturally the Wildcats’ bullpen threw three scoreless innings down the stretch in a 12-8 win over Stanford at Hi Corbett Field.
“It’s just important to win,” UA coach Chip Hale said after snapping a 3-game skid. “It’s getting tougher on the weekends, it’s not where our starter’s going six or seven and then it’s one reliever, two relievers.”
Arizona (27-17, 15-7 Pac-12) used five relievers after starter Jackson Kent had his shortest outing of the season, getting pulled after 4.2 innings and 100 pitches. He allowed five runs—the most by any of the weekend trio in 2024—and seven hits but also walked two and hit three batters. Two of those free passes ended up scoring, including the tying run in the 5th that made it 5-5.
Kyler Heyne got the win despite allowing three runs in 1.1 innings, with Dawson Netz letting two inherited runners score including one on a balk. But after that the Cardinal (20-23, 11-11) fell mostly silent at the plate.
It started with Tony Pluta, who allowed a walk and a single but no runs in the 7th, then Matthew Martinez had a perfect 8th with two strikeouts and Tonko Susac threw a scoreless 9th. Susac has not allowed a run in eight innings since getting moved to the bullpen, allowing seven baserunners with 15 strikeouts, while Martinez has had five scoreless innings with five strikeouts in his last three outings.
That was after not pitching in a game in more than three weeks.
“It’s huge for them to trust me to throw me back out there,” Martinez said. “I was falling back on my changeup a lot, it’s been my bread and butter the last few years now. Definitely my favorite pitch.”
At the plate, every batter had at least one of the team’s 14 hits. Five Wildcats had at least two including Blake McDonald, who got the start at catcher after Adonys Guzman took a ball off the arm in a drill during the week and was held out for precautionary reasons.
McDonald also gave Arizona an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th on a safety squeeze bunt, his third sacrifice this season.
“I did it a lot in junior college,” he said.
Arizona scored five runs in the first three innings, took the lead for good with a 4-run 5th and had two more in the 6th. The Wildcats had seven extra-base hits, with Garen Caulfield and Maddox Mihalakis each recording two doubles.
Combined with Utah’s opener at Oregon getting postponed to a Saturday doubleheader, the UA is a half-game up on the Utes for first place in the Pac-12. Those teams meet in Salt Lake City next weekend.
Game 2 of the series with Stanford is set for 6 p.m. PT Saturday, with RHP Clark Candiotti on the mound for the Wildcats against Cardinal lefty Christian Lim.