It was “Strangers Things” Night at Hi Corbett Field, and Arizona sent ASU to the upside down with one wild inning to even the rivalry series.
The Wildcats scored seven times in the bottom of the 7th to beat the Sun Devils 7-4 on Friday.
“It’s a great win against our arch rival,” said head coach Chip Hale. “Even with the losses, we’re going to keep moving forward. Something will turn for us, but the problem is people think, ‘Well, it’s gonna turn,’ well you have to make a turn and tonight we made it turn.”
ASU pitcher Cole Carlon kept the Wildcats (10-20, 3-8 Big 12) at bay for a majority of the game. Pitching six innings, he struck out 12 Wildcat batters and left seven runners on base.
“He definitely had our number, and when we got him out of there, I think our guys got a lot of confidence and took advantage of it,” said Hale.
The ferocious comeback started in the 7th inning when Arizona finally found the scoreboard as the ASU bullpen. Carson McEntire singled to left field to get a runner on for the Wildcats and was advanced on a fly out by Mathis Meurant. Nate Novitske was able to reach first base after a fielding error by the Sun Devils, which gave McEntire enough time to come home.
Caleb Danzeisen was walked, then both he and Novitske advanced on a wild pitch by ASU. The bases were then loaded when Tony Lira was walked. The deficit was cut in half when Roman Meyers was also walked to bring in Novitske.
With the bases still loaded, Andrew Cain singled to center field bringing home both Danzeisen and Lira to tie the game. Beau Sylvester was intentionally walked to load the bases yet again.
Arizona took the lead for good when Maddox Mihalakis singled to right field bringing in Meyers and Cain. Sylvester scored the final run of the game when ASU balked.
The Sun Devils (22-9, 6-4) ould never recover from losing a 4-run lead in one inning. They had dominated the game for six innings, but one bad inning was the difference.
Smith Bailey pitched five innings and got five strikeouts. All four of ASU’s runs came against Bailey but that was mainly due to poor defense from the rest of the Wildcats.
“It was a tough start,” Hale said. “Made some defensive mistakes, and I thought Smith bailed us out, you know, to get us out of there at 4-0.”
Collin McKinney threw 2.1 shutout innings before Maclain Roberts and Garett Hicks came in to pitch the rest of the game. McKinney got his first win of the season and is now 1-5, while Hicks earned his third save.
“The city of Tucson supports us so well, and we’ve been battling,” said Hale. “I just hope they appreciate the way the guys bust their tails for them. They want to be the best team they can be, and obviously wins and losses right now are not on our side, but we still have a chance.”
Fans might not be able to fully support the team Saturday with the series finale being played around the same time as the basketball team’s Final Four game. Regardless, Arizona will play the rubber match and hope to pull off the series win against ASU tomorrow.
