Arizona won its fourth straight game against rival Arizona State, beating the Sun Devils 8-5 in the series opener Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The victory for Arizona (21-8, 7-3 Big 12) over Arizona State (20-10, 7-3) was fueled by a pair of home runs by Aaron Walton and Maddox Mihalakis, a fifth-inning rally and dominant relief pitching by right-handers Casey Hintz and Garrett Hicks.
Arizona can win the three-game series Saturday night at 6:30. The game will be on ESPN+ and also on 1290-AM.
Hintz and Hicks combined to limit Arizona State to only one run and four hits in the last 5 2/3 innings on Friday night. The duo tallied a combined seven strikeouts.
Hintz (6-1) earned the win, while Hicks, formerly of Pima College, picked up his second save.
Hintz pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed three hits and a run and tallied four strikeouts.
Hicks, who was animated on the mound as he closed the game, allowed a hit and struck out three in his two innings of work.
Walton opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the first inning, his fifth homer of the season. Mihalakis, the designated hitter, broke a tie game in the seventh inning with a mammoth two-run home run.
Down 4-1 in the top of the fifth, the Wildcats had two quick outs before mounting an impressive rally. Six consecutive batters reached base to fuel the rally, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Mihalakis, Tommy Splaine and Mathis Meurant.
Starting pitcher Collin McKinney worked 3 1/3 innings for the Wildcats and struck out three. He did not factor into the decision.
Adonys Guzman, Arizona’s catcher, went 4 for 5 with two runs and former Salpointe standout Gunner Geile was had an RBI triple.
Arizona’s four-game winning streak against Arizona State is its longest since the Wildcats won five consecutive games in the series between the 2017 and 2018 seasons. It is the second-longest winning streak since 1979, when the Wildcats swept the six games that season (the programs back then played a three-game series in Tempe and Tucson).
The longest Arizona winning streak against Arizona State is 29 games from 1949 to 1957.
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