The season is still many months away, but the first glimpse of what the 2027 Arizona Wildcats may look like was on display Thursday night in the Mexican Baseball Fiesta at Kino Stadium.
The UA came away with a 17-11 win over Naranjeros de Hermosillo, a member of the Mexican Pacific Winter League and one of five clubs playing preseason games this weekend in Tucson. Arizona and Hermosillo will meet up again at Hi Corbett Field on Oct. 9.
Arizona scored 12 runs in the first two innings, showing patience
at the plate and timely hitting with runners in scoring position, two things it failed to do last season in going 18-35, one of the worst records in program history. It finished with 11 hits and drew 10 walks.
“There was nothing from the offense that was disappointing at all,” coach Chip Hale said.
The Wildcats’ pitching and defense, on the other hand, left a bit to be desired.
Arizona committed five errors, mostly on bad throws to first baseman Tony Lira, who normally catches everything but struggled in the field. Those miscues led to several extended rallies and unearned runs.
“I think it’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing at this point,” Hale said. “It’s a mental part of the game we haven’t gotten sharp enough yet.”
On the mound, UA pitchers struck out nine Hermosillo batters but also gave up 12 hits, issued five walks and had two wild pitches and a balk. A few arms stood out positively, though, with TCU transfer Trever Baumler throwing a scoreless 1st, New Mexico State transfer Dylan Weekly firing two scoreless innings and Benton Hickman going 1-2-3 in the 9th to close it out.
At the plate, 11 of 14 players who got at-bats reached base at least once. That includes freshman Jory Crocker, a shortstop by trade who got the start at 2nd base and was reached base all three times. He had two hits, three RBI and two runs scored in the 8-run 2nd.
“I think he’s got a high ceiling, so we want to give him as many at-bats as we can right now,” Hale said of Crocker, from outside Chicago.
Another freshman, infielder Lyndon Lee, appeared to suffer a significant injury to his lower left leg running the bases in the 8th inning. Lee, from Las Vegas, had to be helped off the field.
Some notable returners were unavailable for Thursday’s game. Pitchers Smith Bailey, Jack Lafflam and Tony Pluta are coming back from injury and have yet to throw, while outfielder Andrew Cain is dealing with an elbow issue that’s limited him to hitting only.
The UA has four more fall exhibition games left, three in Tucson starting with the second Hermosillo game on Oct. 9. The Wildcats also play Pima College on Oct. 17 and Central Arizona on Oct. 23 before finishing up Nov. 1 against Vanderbilt in Las Vegas.
