PHOENIX – In a season where very little has gone right for Arizona baseball, the Wildcats’ Tuesday night loss at GCU serves as a microcosm for the past two months.
Arizona overcame a sluggish start offensively to take a 4-run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, only to watch its lead dissolve into a 9-8 walkoff loss to the Antelopes at Brazell Field at GCU Park.
Arizona (16-27) dropped to 3-6 in midweek games and 1-2 against GCU this season.
“We don’t know how to win,” Arizona coach Chip Hale
said. “This team has been very poor at finishing games and winning games and it’s too bad.”
Arizona’s night got off to a cold start, as the Wildcats bats couldn’t get much going off GCU starter Cody Kiemele.
The Antelopes scored three runs in the second off Arizona freshman Jack Lafflam, who was making his first appearance in nearly a month.
Lafflam went 1.2 innings, allowing five hits on two strikeouts. Two of his runs were earned.
Arizona’s began to wake up in the seventh, when Caleb Danzeisen brought in a pair of runs on a fielding error by the Antelopes to tie the game at 3-3.
Arizona took the lead in the eighth on a three-run triple by Carson McEntire. After GCU added a run back in the bottom of the frame, the Wildcats added two more runs in the ninth on an Tony Lira RBI triple and an Andrew Cain sac fly.
Arizona reliever Garrett Hicks recorded the first out of the bottom of the ninth, then conceded a double, home run, double and double as GCU cut the deficit to 8-7.
With a runner on second and one out, Arizona turned to Matthew Martinez. The senior righty immediately plunked a GCU batter to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third.
Martinez retired GCU’s Camden Bates on strikes for the second out. After working Griffin Cameron to a 1-2 count, Martinez threw a slider down the middle of the plate, which Cameron roped to right field to score the tying and winning runs.
“We did a good job of coming back and getting ahead and getting a good lead,” Hale said. “We have our closer out there we think it’s a game we’re gonna win. But it’s just a culmination of things we’ve done all year.”
Arizona remains on the road this weekend, visiting Big 12-leading Kansas. The Wildcats’ lone conference series win this season was away from home three weeks ago at TCU.
