Though not mathematically eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament, the likelihood of Arizona sneaking into the field is very small.
The Wildcats (18-32, 8-19 Big 12) would need to win at least two games this weekend at Oklahoma State, if not sweep the Cowboys, and also have either Kansas State or Texas Tech lose a certain amount in their final regular season series. Those teams hold a tiebreaker over the UA, so it would have to finish ahead of one or the other to earn a spot in the Big 12 tourney next
week in Surprise.
“We put ourselves in a tough spot,” UA coach Chip Hale said Tuesday after what may have been the final practice of the season at Hi Corbett Field. “We know what we have to do, it’s just, it’s win, and we have to get some help with it. But all we have to worry about is winning our game.”
While trying to make the Big 12 tourney remains a goal, albeit a one unlikely to be achieved, the other mission for this final weekend is to lay the groundwork for 2027. Oklahoma State (34-18, 16-11) has won eight of its last nine conference games, taking 2 of 3 at ASU last weekend, and is playing its way into contending for a regional host bid.
It would be easy for Arizona to just lay down this weekend, go through the motions and then get a head start on the offseason, but Hale doesn’t see that happening.
“I just think we’re just going to let it go,” he said. “Let’s just worry about winning the first pitch of the game. But I also want to set the tone for next year’s group, the way we play and how hard we play and don’t give up. And I think for the most part, we haven’t given up this year. We’ve had some really tough situations happen, but the guys have kept the energy up. They play hard for me.”
Arizona has only won one Big 12 series this season, taking 2 of 3 at TCU, while getting swept in two others. Each weekend there has been at least one game the Wildcats had a chance to win but didn’t, the series opener at first place Kansas two weeks ago or last weekend’s middle game against Houston that went to 13 innings.
A victory here and there and the UA could be entering the final weekend trying to hold onto a Big 12 tourney spot instead of making a last push to grab one.
Of the Wildcats on the travel roster, several may be playing their final college games this weekend. But for most this is their last chance to audition for the 2027 squad, as it is expected that Hale will make notable changes to the roster.
Certainly part of the future plans is left-handed reliever Maclain Roberts, who has a team-best 3.67 ERA in 19 appearances over 27 innings. A native of New Zealand, he spent the previous two seasons at Pima College thanks to a connection with ex-Wildcat Brian Anderson, who was his pitching coach on the national team that Roberts played for in a World Baseball Classic qualifying tournament in Panama in 2022.
The 6-foot-5 Roberts didn’t start playing baseball until 17, after watching the 2019 World Series on television and liking what he saw. Little did he know that his future head coach, Hale, was in that series as bench coach for the Washington Nationals.
“When I was when I was getting recruited here, I was like, I feel like I’ve seen this guy before,” Roberts said. “And then I kind of went back, and I was like, no way. And then the first person that that told me, it was my dad. He did some background searches and stuff.”
Roberts was a starter at Pima but has been used exclusively out of the pen at Arizona. That led to disappointing results in the fall and preseason, and it didn’t help having several chances in pitching coaches between when he committed and his first season.
“That was definitely funky,” Roberts said. “When Coach (Sean) Kenny came in, I think it took us a while. We had some growing pains and stuff like that, but we’ve definitely got a good connection with him now. And he’s done a great job. It’s been a tough situation this season, obviously, and it’s always hard coming in to coach a new group right before the season starts. So with those circumstances, I think he’s done an amazing job.”
Roberts began his UA career with 12.2 consecutive scoreless innings before going through a rough patch. But since the beginning of April he’s allowed just three runs in 12 innings.
“He’s shown us a lot more in the last couple times, 92 pretty consistently, and it’s been pretty exciting,” Hale said. “So hopefully we get to play longer and get him some more innings.”
The pitching coach carousel—Kevin Vance left after the College World Series to be head coach at San Diego State, then John DeRouin departed for an MLB job in December and Owen Cuffe did the same in January—had an even greater impact on righty Evan Brandt. A transfer from Weatherford College in Texas, he also was being converted from a starter to reliever and that involved a lot of change to his delivery particularly to get him comfortable out of the stretch.
The early results were good, particularly with the ability to strand inherited runners, but then he allowed 14 runs (11 earned) over the next seven appearances tallying just 5.1 innings and Brandt was put on the shelf for nearly a month to fix some things. He made one more relief appearance at Kansas before making a surprise start Sunday in the home finale.
And proceeded to throw five shutout innings, allowing three hits.
“It certainly felt good being able to get out there on Sunday and put up a performance like that, I would say very retro me from last year,” said Brandt, who was 14-1 with a 1.88 ERA in 2025 at Weatherford.
Brandt may start the regular season finale depending on how the first two games go. Senior lefty Luc Fladda will start Thursday’s opener, with junior righty Owen Kramkowski remaining on Friday like he has all season, and either Brandt, redshirt junior righty Collin McKinney or true freshman Jack Lafflam will get the final start.
