No. 22 Arizona beat Utah 8-7 to close the series at Hi Corbett Field on Sunday, snapping a four-game losing streak — its longest of the season.
The Wildcats lost the first two games of the series to the Utes, 8-6 and 13-5.
Arizona (34-17, 16-11 Big 12) was up 4-0 after four innings, but Utah tied the game on three occasions. Each time, Arizona’s offense responded to regain the lead.
“I think we just had to hang in there. Even the first two games, if we just could have hung in there in the middle innings with the pitching, we would have been okay. I thought we hung in there, and we knew that we would score more than them at some point,” Arizona head coach Chip Hale said.
Easton Breyfogle had two RBIs, including a game-winning RBI single and a home run.
“It’s big. It’s really big,” Breyfogle said on the significance of the win with three games remaining at Houston to end the regular season. “We’ve got to go to Houston, and we’ve got to win some games there. So, it’s good to get to end on a high note on the weekend, and hopefully continue to get things rolling and roll it on over to the Big 12 tournament, and then region.”
Utah’s Drake Digiorno hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to even the game at seven. Digiorno’s second home run of the afternoon prompted a pitching change, and Tony Pluta came into relieve Casey Hintz, recording three outs.
An RBI single up the middle from Breyfogle in the bottom of the eighth inning gave Arizona an 8-7 lead, and Pluta (2-0) retired three batters in the top of the ninth to record the win, with Breyfogle catching a fly ball at the warning track in left field to seal the deal.
Arizona starter Smith Bailey (2-3) allowed four runs off six hits with six strikeouts and no walks in six innings. It was his longest outing of the season. His previous longest appearance was on March 9, when he pitched 5 2/3 innings against Pepperdine.
“The 4-0 lead was fantastic. I thought Smith Bailey was probably the key to the game, getting us the length. And then they did as they have done all weekend. They were pesky, and got two-out hits and tied the game. I thought we did a good job of responding, ” Hale said. “Today, the last out of the game was at the fence. So, thank God he caught it.”
In the top of the fifth inning, Bailey allowed three runs off a pair of RBI doubles from Matt Flaherty and Jack Klevano and an RBI single from Austen Roellig to cut Arizona’s lead to 4-3.
Utah (20-26, 7-20 Big 12) tied the game in the top of the sixth with a solo home run from Drake Digiorno. Arizona regained the lead at 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning when Adonys Guzman scored from third base on a wild pitch.
Hintz took the mound for Arizona to begin the seventh inning, and after recording an out, he allowed the next three batters to reach base by way of a single, a walk and a hit by pitch. A sacrifice fly by Core Jackson tied the game at five, but after a ground out, Arizona got out of the inning.
A solo home run from Breyfogle in the bottom of the seventh inning regained the lead for Arizona for the second time on Sunday, and an RBI double from Maddox Mihalakis later in the inning extended the lead to 7-5.
Arizona looked primed to take an early lead in the bottom of the first inning when Utah starting pitcher Brady Joyner walked three straight batters, but Garen Caulfield struck out, keeping the game scoreless.
Joyner allowed a single to Andrew Cain and walked Tommy Splaine to open the bottom of the second inning, leading to a pitching change with Ian Culver coming in for relief. With one out, Brendan Summerhill singled to right center to bring in Cain and Splaine to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.
A two-run home run from Mason White in the bottom of the fourth extended Arizona’s lead to 4-0.
With the win on Sunday, Arizona sits in fifth place in the Big 12 conference standings with three road games against Houston remaining in the regular season.
Arizona opens the series at Houston (11-14, 4-8 Big 12) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
FOLLOW @KEVINMURFEE ON TWITTER! ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com writer Kevin Murphy was born and raised in Tucson, and has followed Arizona Wildcats athletics since childhood. Murphy is a journalist product manager with the Green Valley News & the Sahuarita Sun. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU.
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