The Arizona Wildcats baseball team will go down in history as the final team to be crowned conference champion in this iteration of the Pac-12. Unfortunately, their ensuing NCAA Tournament run ended rather disappointingly.
Entering the tournament as the No. 13 team in the nation, the Wildcats were the 1-seed in the Tucson Region. But in their first game of the tournament, they lost 9-4 to Grand Canyon. With one more chance to stay alive in the tournament, the Wildcats were pitted against Dallas Baptist – a program that has most of its sports compete in Division II.
But the Dallas Baptist Patriots looked like an SEC school against Arizona today, beating the Pac-12 champions 7-0 to advance to the next round of the regional after losing to West Virginia earlier this week.
SEE YOU SUNDAY!
The Patriots are headed back to the winner’s bracket with a dominant showing over the host, Arizona! #DBUBaseball | #RoadtoOmaha pic.twitter.com/38QE8M6vWS
— DBU Baseball (@DBU_Baseball) June 1, 2024
It was a frustrating end for the Pac-12 regular season and tournament champions, who will be joining the Big 12 Conference for all sports next season.
“Not the way we wanted this year to end. Regardless, a historic season with many great memories Thank you, Wildcat fans, for all your support this year!” the team posted on X.
Arizona’s NCAA Tournament run ends at 0-2, with the team being outscored 16-4.
The Pac-12 will still be represented by another outgoing Pac-12 team – the Oregon Ducks – as well as the Oregon State Beavers, one of the two remaining schools that will continue to hoist the conference’s banner for as long as they can.
But Arizona must really be feeling the pain right now.