Big 12 Baseball Tournament: Arizona beats TCU in 10 innings for 2nd straight conference tourney title

New league, same result!

Arizona began the 2025 season by losing three games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, getting outscored 29-6 in the last two. The return trip went a little better.

The Wildcats have won their second consecutive conference tournament championship, rallying in the 9^th and then going ahead in extras to beat TCU 2-1 in 10 innings on Saturday night. The title comes a year after winning the final Pac-12 Tournament crown.

Maddox Mihalakis’ bloop single to right-center field scored Mason White in the top of the 10^th, giving 4th-seeded Arizona (39-18) its only lead. The Wildcats trailed 1-0 entering the 9^th before Andrew Cain roped a solo home run to left.

Tony Pluta threw shutout frames in the 9^th and 10^th, striking out pinch hitter Sam Myers to end it. His finish continued the incredible pitching Arizona got in the tourney, allowing only three runs in 28 innings.

Freshman Smith Bailey allowed a run over 5.1 innings, striking out five and walking one. He walked the second batter of the game, who came around to score on a groundout following a 1-out double, but after that he stayed clean including workout out of a 2-on, no-out jam in the 4th.

Bailey left with a runner on 1^st and 1 out in the 6^th for Casey Hintz, who induced an inning-ending double play and then threw a scoreless 7^th. Garett Hicks followed with a 1-2-3 8^th, keeping Arizona within striking distance.

But third-seeded TCU (39-18) was equally effective on the mound, even if its starter was out in the 3^rd inning. The Horned Frogs made the change when Arizona loaded the bases with 1 out for White, but lefty reliever Gianluca Shinn wiggled out of that mess and recorded seven strikeouts (six in a row) over 2.2 innings.

Another TCU lefty, Braeden Sloan, came on in the 6^th and immediately put the first two Wildcats on before escaping, doing the same thing in the 8^th.

Cain, who struck out with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd to end the 6^th, crushed a 2-1 pitch to right to open the 9^th for his 6^th home run of the season. It was his 4^th homer since May 10.

The 10^th started with Aaron Walton grounding out but then Sloan, in his fifth inning of relief, hit White in the back. Adonys Guzman followed with a single to center, moving Guzman to 3^rd, and then Mihalakis blooped the first pitch he saw into no-man’s land for the go-ahead run.

White was named Big 12 Tournament MVP, going 7 for 11 with three homers and seven RBI. He hit five homers at Globe Life Field this season, including two on opening weekend, as Arizona improved to 9-7 in 2025 in Texas including the last five.

Arizona is now officially qualified for its 5^th consecutive NCAA Tournament and 4^th in a row under Chip Hale, the first UA coach to make four straight postseasons since Frank Sancet in the 1960s. The Wildcats will find out where they’re going—hosting is unlikely—and who they’re playing at 9 a.m. PT Monday.