Arizona only needs to win one game this weekend in order to clinch the final Pac-12 regular season title. Ideally it would happen Thursday night, in the opener against second-place Oregon State at Hi Corbett Field, thus taking pressure off the rest of the weekend.
But if it doesn’t, don’t expect to see any finger pointing from within the Wildcats.
“It’s a team win and it’s a team loss, and you truly have to believe that and buy into that,” pitcher Anthony ‘Tonko’ Susac said. “You have to come together and just realize that it is a team sport, that you win and lose as a team and that it’s not on any individual or any side of the game. Changing that this year has really helped us.”
After going 12-18 in the league in 2023, Arizona (32-18, 19-8) was picked to finish ninth this season, while Oregon State (39-12, 17-9) was the overwhelming favorite. Coach Chip Hale those predictions are usually based on a combination of how a team did the year before and what they’re bringing back.
For the Wildcats that meant losing most of their best hitters while returning the bulk of a pitching staff that was second-worst in the conference with a 5.97 ERA. That dynamic a year ago led to plenty of internal tension, Hale admitted Wednesday.
“In the past, obviously our hitting was great and we struggled on the mound,” he said. “There was guys frustrated with each other. We wanted the pitchers and the hitters to be one group. Whether it’s the first inning or the ninth day and these guys are into it. I think that’s the biggest difference and why we’ve been so successful.”
It doesn’t hurt that the UA now has the best pitching staff in the conference, its 4.14 ERA a tick ahead of OSU (4.18) overall while in Pac-12 play the Wildcats’ 3.49 ERA is almost a run better than the Beavers (4.33). Arizona’s hitting isn’t nearly as potent as a year ago, but the power is starting to perk up with 10 home runs in the past four games after only 10 in the previous 15.
Arizona’s No. 1 goal for the weekend is to clinch the Pac-12 title, and with it the No. 1 seed in next week’s Pac-12 Tournament in Scottsdale where it would not have to play the first day Tuesday. And because of the 9-team, 3-pool format, the No. 1 seed only needs to win one of two preliminary games to advance to the semifinals.
“It’s great for us to be able to finish the season here before the tournament against a team that we have to beat,” Hale said. “Our theory is we want to win two out of three, that’s what we’ve tried to do all year, especially in our house. Last year of the Pac-12, it would be a special thing for us and the university.”
The UA is 18-5 at Hi Corbett Field, including 10-2 in Pac-12 play with 10 consecutive wins. Oregon State is 4-7 on the road in the league, going 0-5 at Cal and USC where the Wildcats won five of six.
Injury update
A shoulder injury to redshirt freshman TJ Adams last weekend at Utah was the second time this season it had lost its starting left fielder. Adams had taken over that job after freshman Easton Breyfogle suffered a hamstring injury April 27 at Washington.
Breyfogle is “getting close” to returning, per Hale, and could be on the 27-man weekend roster, while Adams is out until the pain goes away. Once that happens he’ll return to full activity.
Brandon Rogers would start in left if Breyfogle isn’t ready, while two-way player Casey Hintz is the next option. Rogers was 2 for 10 last weekend including his first career homer.
Some dangerous Beavers
Oregon State has the runaway favorite for Pac-12 Player of the Year in Australian infielder Travis Bazzana, a junior who might be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. He’s the Beavers’ career leader in home runs, hits and stolen bases and is hitting .424 with 26 homers and 60 RBI.
“He’s a special player,” Hale said. “I think one of the things that people should come watch is the passion that he plays the game with. He loves the game of baseball, and you can tell the moment he walks on the field. He never stops talking. He bounces around. He plays all facets of the game very well.And it’s a challenge for obviously Kevin (Vance) and the pitching group to do the best they can to keep him at bay. You’re not going to stop him, you want to keep the people off base before him because he’s just a fantastic kid. And there’s a reason why he’s a top one, two or three pick in the country.”
Bazzana has also walked 66 times, part of an OSU offense that averages more than six walks per game. The Wildcats lead the nation in walks allowed per nine innings (2.5).
The OSU offense isn’t a one-man show, though. Two other players have double-digit homers including sophomore Gavin Turley—younger brother of former UA hitter Noah Turley—who has 17 along with a conference-best 64 RBI.
The Beavers have hit 109 home runs, 7th-most in Division I.
Friend becomes foe
Last season, Aiden May was part of Arizona’s weekend rotation and ended up leading the team in starts (16) and strikeouts (77). But just over a month after starting the Wildcats’ season-ending loss to Santa Clara in the NCAA Tournament, May put his name into the NCAA transfer portal.
This wasn’t much of a surprise to Hale—“I had heard rumors during the year that he was thinking about doing it; he wasn’t really good about hiding it”—but what caught him off guard was the lateness of the move.
“When we had our meeting at the end of the year, I was a little surprised he didn’t tell me then,” Hale said. “He waited until the last second of the portal closing to get in there. I had a good idea where he was gonna end up. It’s just the new way of college sports.”
May, who began his career at Pima College, is now Oregon State’s Friday night starter. He brings to Hi Corbett a 5-0 record and 2.77 ERA in 10 starts and a 23.1-inning scoreless streak, much better numbers than he had with the Wildcats when he was 5-3 with a 6.33 ERA and allowed 22 earned runs in 31.1 innings in Tucson.
“He’s been great,” Hale said. “He was good for us. His numbers obviously weren’t as good for us, but he still has great stuff. A fastball that’s electric, a slider. He competes, he’s a very, very good competitor.”
NCAA implications aplenty
Arizona is safely in the NCAA Tournament field no matter what happens this weekend and in the Pac-12 tourney, but a good showing in both could keep them at home for the first round of the postseason.
The latest NCAA projections have the UA traveling for regionals, with Baseball America sending them to Santa Barbara, Calif. and D1Baseball to Terre Haute, Ind. But per D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers, how the Wildcats play against Oregon State could change that.
“Our belief is that whoever wins the Pac-12 showdown between the Beavs and Wildcats this weekend will find their way to a host site,” wrote Rogers, who picked OSU to take the series.
Hale said he and his staff are well aware of what’s at stake from a postseason standpoint, while the players are “laser-focused” on the games themselves. He said when he was on the 1986 national title team at Arizona it had to travel to Texas for regionals, and there’s only so much you can do to impact those pairings.
“It doesn’t matter where you go, you’re going to have to beat teams like Oregon State,” he said.
Big crowds expected
Arizona is averaging 3,356 fans per game at Hi Corbett, trailing only OSU (3,622) in the Pac-12. That average would be the best for a season since moving off campus in 2012, and this weekend’s crowds figure to only boost that number.
“Every night, we feel like our crowd has helped us win games, so we’re hoping to pack the house three nights,” Hale said. “Should be beautiful nights, weather-wise.”
The top crowd of the season is 5,410, against ASU in mid-March. Five other games have drawn better than 4,000 including two weeks ago against Stanford. The biggest crowd at Hi Corbett to see the Wildcats play the Beavers came in 2022 when 5,323 were on hand for a UA victory.