It’s been a rough season for Arizona, to say the least. The combination of inexperience and injuries—a lot of injuries—has led to a major regression from 2025, when the Wildcats reached the College World Series for the 19th time in school history.
Arizona won 44 games a year ago. This spring the UA is on pace for one of the program’s worst records, the first with at least 30 losses since 2014, yet there’s still something to play for with two weeks left in the regular season.
A spot in the Big 12 Tournament
is within reach. Arizona (17-30, 7-17) enters Thursday tied with Texas Tech for 12th place out of 14 schools, with the top 12 getting into the conference tourney May 19-23 in Surprise. Tech holds the tiebreaker after taking two of three from the UA at Hi Corbett Field in March, so it would have to finish at least a game ahead in the conference standings.
This weekend provides a great opportunity to pick up wins for the Wildcats. The final home series of the season brings in last-place Houston (20-28, 4-20), which has lost eight straight Big 12 games.
“We gotta win the series for sure,” reliever Matthew Martinez said.
Martinez will be playing his final home series at Hi Corbett, completing a dream come true to play for the same school as his father and where his parents met. This season he’s 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA in 18 appearances, striking out 35 batters in 23.1 innings, and in three years with the Wildcats he’s pitched in 50 games.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’ll hit me until the final pitch is thrown,” he said.
Martinez went through the Senior Day ceremony last season only to be given an extra year of eligibility thanks to an NCAA ruling related to junior college players. He won’t be participating on Saturday night but 11 other Wildcats will.
Those set to be honored before the middle game are pitchers JT Drake, Luc Fladda, Garrett Hicks, Collin McKinney, Pat Morris and Tony Pluta along with position players TJ Adams, Tyler Bickers, Mathis Meurant, Maddox Mihalakis and Dom Rodriguez. Adams, Drake, McKinney and Pluta have eligibility remaining and could return in 2027.
Arizona has lost 10 players to injury this season, most recently shutting down sophomore starting pitcher Smith Bailey after he left his last start with a soft tissue issue in his right shoulder. Pluta, who set the school single-season saves record in 2025, underwent elbow surgery in February, and at least two projected starters in the field suffered season-ending shoulder injuries.
That prompted UA coach Chip Hale to skew young, with true or redshirt freshmen logging more than 700 at-bats and 35.2 innings. Last season one freshman played in the field.
All that youth has contributed to Arizona’s poor record, but so has the lack of production from the upperclassmen, particularly at the plate. Seniors Meurant and Mihalakis are hitting .204 and .203, respectively, and junior Andrew Cain is hitting .220
“Obviously the numbers haven’t been what we had thought,” Hale said. “If you think about our season, it’s predicated a little bit on the fact that our older players have not been able to put up the numbers that we had anticipated.”
Martinez admits this season has been tough, especially after being part of a team that went to the College World Series a year ago. But earlier this week he and his teammates got some perspective from another UA head coach.
“We actually had a team dinner (Tuesday) night and Tommy Lloyd talked to the team, and he was saying that you probably learned more through this losing season than you did last year being in Omaha,” Martinez said. “You figure out ways to get better, like you’re forced to because you want to win.”
Sylvester staying hot
His 15-game hitting streak ended over the weekend at Kansas, but Arizona’s hottest hitter remains catcher Beau Sylvester. He hit two home runs in Wednesday’s 8-6 win over New Mexico State and is hitting .338 for the season, .373 in Big 12 play.
A part-time player at Oklahoma State, Sylvester split the catching duties with Roman Meyers most of this season but has caught 11 of the last 15 games while serving as DH in three others.
“It helps a lot,” Sylvester said of playing every day. “Like seeing things and then waking up and seeing them again, it’s a lot easier to find timing adjustments. I feel like I can make adjustments, pitch to pitch, at bat to at bat, day to day. I’m not searching as much because of the limited at-bats.”
Weekend pitching plan
With Bailey out of commission, Arizona will have a different weekend starter for the first time since February. Junior right-hander Owen Kramkowski (1-6, 4.96) will stay in the Friday spot, but senior lefty Luc Fladda (3-2, 5.66) will move up to Saturday. The home finale Sunday morning will likely be started by McKinney, who was in that role the first two weeks before getting moved to the bullpen.
That is, unless McKinney is needed in one of the first two games. In six relief appearances in Big 12 play the redshirt junior righty has a 1.93 ERA and three wins. He also got his first career save Wednesday, coming on for the final two outs after NMSU scored five runs in the 9th.
“We’re using him in so many different roles,” Hale said. “If we have to use McKinney (on Friday or Saturday) we’ll throw the bullpen (on Sunday).”
