With the 2026 season past the halfway point, all signs point to Arizona missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Depending how this upcoming weekend goes, the Wildcats could surpass their loss total from a year ago with six weeks left in the regular season.
But there’s still plenty to play for, and in the case of the next opponent, play against. The UA hosts ASU for three games at Hi Corbett Field beginning Thursday night.
“I just think we need to play a good game,” coach Chip Hale
said after Tuesday’s home loss to West Virginia. “But we have to play good baseball, and minimize the free 90s.”
That’s the all-encompassing term Hale uses for opposing hitters getting on and getting over without the benefit of a hit. That was a big issue against West Virginia, when UA pitchers issued 10 walks, hit two batters and also had runs score on a passed ball, wild pitch and fielding error.
The same thing happened the previous weekend in getting swept at UCF, when over three games Arizona (9-19, 2-7 Big 12) walked 14, hit two and had six wild pitches.
“ASU is another one that’s going to come in here, and if you give them free 90s it’s not going to be pretty,” Hale said.
The Sun Devils (21-8, 5-4) is averaging more than nine runs per game, and scored 10 in a nonconference win over Arizona last month. Any free 90s given to them will only enhance their potent attack, which is led by sophomore Landon Hairston, who is hitting .469 with 17 home runs and 48 RBI.
“He’s having a Barry Bonds-type year, we’re going to have to be very careful with him,” Hale said of Hairston, whose father Scott Hairston played for Hale with the Tucson Sidewinders in the mid-2000s. “Landon was born when I was managing his dad. We really wanted him. His dad said he basically wanted to be a Sun Devil his whole life, and you’ve got to respect that. When I watch him, I root for him—not when he’s playing against us—but it’s hard. It’s hard to root against him. He’s a great kid, and they have a wonderful family.”
The annual Arizona/ASU series also serves as a reunion for many Phoenix-area players who were either teammates or adversaries at the high school and club level. The UA has 17 in-state players, 14 from Maricopa County, while there are 10 Sun Devils from Arizona.
“When we cross these lines we don’t like each other and we’re going to go at it,” said center fielder Carson McEntire, who grew up playing against ASU’s Hairston, Josh Butler and Cole Carlon, among others. Both his parents graduated from ASU as well, but he said they’ll be rooting for the Wildcats.
“The house is a full Wildcat now, full go,” said McEntire, who leads Arizona with six home runs and his 19 RBI is tied for the team lead. “My dad expects us to whoop some devil butt.”
Senior reliever Garrett Hicks, who grew up in Buckeye and was surrounded by ASU fans growing up, is looking forward to avenging the loss in Phoenix last month.
“I’m excited to play them, especially after we played them up there, we didn’t like some of the stuff they did,” Hick said. “It’s ASU. They did it last year, whatever. I don’t like them, whatever. But it’s a rivalry game. Stakes are high. Right now, the whole college baseball world thinks we’re a dead man. You can’t kill a dead man when he’s already dead. At the end of the day, we’re a dangerous team and we’re gonna come out and show what we got.”
Injury update
Arizona continues to deal with injuries, the latest being a quad injury to freshman outfielder Caleb Danzeisen that has kept him out the last three games. Hale expects him to be available this weekend.
The Wildcats have lost another player for the year, as second baseman Tyler Bickers had shoulder surgery. He’s the third position player to suffer a season-ending shoulder injury along with outfielder Easton Breyfogle and infielder Gavin Triezenberg.
That’s in addition to four pitchers being out indefinitely or for the season. And freshman Jack Lafflam, who started Tuesday, had to come out after two innings because he “didn’t feeling great” according to Hale.
This isn’t the first time Hale has had an injury-plagued season like this.
“I was fired from the Diamondbacks when it happened,” he said. “We were decimated with injuries that year, 2016. We were playing catchers in the outfield, and it didn’t bode well for me.”
The injuries for Arizona began in the fall, which was when Hicks dealt with one. That led to a poor start to this season, but since going into the pitching lab he’s thrown 5.1 scoreless innings including a career-best 4.1 Sunday against UCF.
“Before that, my mechanics all year just felt wrong, felt off since coming back from being hurt in the fall,” he said. “And so it was just kind of a timing thing. We figured it out. And now it’s just kind of just going out there and rolling. And now I kind of figured everything out, spin, everything, so now everything’s starting to click, which is nice.”
