The high noon heat brought out the hitting for both Arizona and Texas Tech on Sunday, as there was no shortage of hits and runs. The Wildcats nearly had a miraculous come back from down five in the 9th but went on to lose 12-10.
It was the Red Raiders’ 6-run 7th inning that ultimately won the series. Arizona (8-15, 2-4 Big 12) will have to wait until next week to try and earn its first Big 12 series win.
“We just keep taking a step forward, like last night, and then a couple steps back,” coach Chip
Hale said, referring to Saturday’s 14-6 win over Tech.
Luc Fladda started his day strong with back to back strikeouts but only played through three innings. He finished with four strikeouts but five earned runs. Three pitchers came in after Fladda before Matthew Martinez finished out the day.
Nate Novitske got the day started with a double down the left field line. Tony Lira then went the distance to center field to give Arizona the early 2-0 lead. However, Texas Tech responded and put up five runs in the second inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Caleb Danzeisen doubled down the left field line, similar to Novitske. Lira singled to center field after it was dropped and a throwing error from Texas Tech allowed Danzeisen to go to third and Lira to second.
Maddox Mihalakis singled to bring in both runners and brought Arizona within one. A pop up and single later, Jackson Forbes’ sac bunt brought in Mihalakis to tie the game at five a piece.
Texas Tech found a way to reclaim the lead but Forbes homered to the Terry Francona hitting center and knotted the game at sixes. Novitske then wanted to match Forbes with an identical home run. Novitske’s home run also went to right field and went off of the hitting center to give Arizona the lead.
Texas Tech found a way to tie the game yet again, and from there on it only got worse for Arizona. The air was taken out of Hi Corbett by five more runs.
Late in the bottom of the 9th, Forbes gave Arizona a bit of life when he doubled down the right field line to bring in two runs. After loading the bases, one last run came in on a hit by pitch but ultimately the deficit was too much for Arizona to come back from.
“It’s a good sign, especially for a young team trying to overcome all the mistakes that we made, but again, we need to clean it up,” said Hale on his team’s near comeback.
Novitske led the Wildcats in hits with four and Forbes led in RBIs with four. Fladda and Martinez both had game highs of four strikeouts.
“I think the lineup is starting to take shape, we just got to stay healthy,” said Hale on the outlook for his team moving forward. “(Gavin) Triezenberg got hurt today and dislocated his shoulder. We’ll see how long he’s going to be out, but hopefully Cash Brennan will be back next week.”
Arizona hosts GCU on Tuesday before going to UCF. The Lopes beat the Wildcats 7-5 at Hi Corbett Field earlier this month.
