1-0 pic.twitter.com/vFYBU0e1JQ
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) May 30, 2025
The five-game NCAA tournament losing streak for Arizona and coach Chip Hale dating to the 2022 Coral Gables (Fla.) Regional is over.
Arizona’s 3-2 win Friday over Cal Poly at Eugene, Ore., behind the effective pitching of starter Owen Kramkowski, timely extra-base hits of Tommy Splaine and Easton Breyfogle and closer Tony Pluta’s school-record-tying 13th save of the season ended the postseason frustration.
The Wildcats went 0-2 in the Fayetteville (Ark.) and Tucson regionals the last two years after losing their last game at Coral Gables against Ole Miss in 2022.
“Some guys on the team are younger, some guys are older — it’s a good mixture,” Breyfogle said on ESPN+ in a postgame interview. “I think after playing all year, the team finally has really come together and bonded well. I think that’s the biggest difference with all of us.”
Arizona advanced to the winners’ bracket of the NCAA tournament for the first time under Hale, who is in his fourth season coaching his alma mater.
The Wildcats (40-18) will play Saturday at 6 p.m. against the winner of Friday night’s Utah Valley-Oregon game.
Cal Poly (41-18) will play the loser of that game in an elimination game at noon Saturday.
“I think it loosens the guys up a little bit,” Hale said in the postgame press conference about winning the opener of the NCAA tournament for the first time as head coach. “I think there was some anxiety to that. I think everybody made such a big deal about us not winning a game in our home regional last year and in Arkansas.
“Obviously, we didn’t win the first one in Miami, but we played pretty well after that, so I think it loosened them up.”
Arizona beat Cal Poly despite having only two hits compared to 10 for the Mustangs.
The Wildcats’ top seven batters in the lineup went 0 for 18.
And they still won.
They are not only the Cardiac Cats but the Crafty Cats.
YOU just got Krammed! pic.twitter.com/0lWcBtg2gl
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) May 30, 2025
Arizona is coming off a 3-0 performance in the Big 12 tournament despite its lineup having a combined 36 strikeouts in the games.
When Hale was asked if he is concerned about the lineup, the coach said, “I trust these guys.”
“We’ll get a game plan for the pitcher tomorrow, whoever it is, and we’ll do the best we can,” Hale said. “Their swings are good. It’s not mechanical. It’s just the pitches that (Cal Poly starter Griffin Naess) was throwing were very difficult. We were off. We were just off-kilter a little bit, but tomorrow we’ll run them back out there and go at it again.”
Arizona got its three runs with two outs in the second inning on the hits by Splaine and Breyfogle — the Nos. 8 and 9 batters in the lineup.
Splaine’s RBI triple that bounced off the glove of sliding center fielder Casey Murray Jr. was followed by Breyfogle’s two-run home run. Andrew Cain walked before Splaine’s triple.
Naess, a sophomore right-hander whose fastball consistently ranged between only 85-88 mph, kept Arizona’s lineup off-balance thereafter with his off-speed stuff.
Naess retired 14 straight batters before walking Garen Caulfield and Cain consecutively in the seventh inning. That threat ended when Splaine grounded into a double play.
Kramkowski, who pitched six scoreless innings in last week’s win over BYU in the Big 12 tournament, had another quality start to keep Arizona ahead throughout.
Kramkowski (9-5) weathered through difficult situations in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Cal Poly stranded nine base runners.
“I feel like I really just lock my stuff in and just focused on what’s the task at hand,” Kramkowski said about battling through the jams. “Just kind of be able to slow the game when I let guys on, because that’s the only way I’ll get out of it.”
The Mustangs broke through with a run in the sixth inning after Murray hit his second double of the game, moved to third on a ground out and scored with one out on Dylan Kordic’s single.
Kramkowski exited before the eight inning with Arizona clinging to its 3-1 lead.
He allowed eight hits with one earned run, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Garrett Hicks relieved him and allowed a home run to Cam Hoiland with one out in the eighth. Hicks got the last two batters in the inning to ground out and strike out.
Just like that, there's a tie at the top! pic.twitter.com/6ClKdbODcZ
— Arizona Baseball (@ArizonaBaseball) May 30, 2025
Pluta entered in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single but then struck out the next batter and got the last one to ground into a double play.
His 13 saves ties Arizona’s season record set by Jason Stoffel in 2008.
“We hear his walk-out song and it gets everyone going, and the game feels over at that point,” Kramkowski said when asked about the team’s confidence when they see Pluta come in as the closer.
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