There are only 10 games left on the schedule, and as it stands now Arizona will finish with a losing record for the first time since 2014. To finish above .500 would require the Wildcats making a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament, getting into which isn’t a guarantee.
Arizona (16-27, 7-14) currently sits in 12th place out of 14 schools, with the top 12 making the tourney May 19-23 in Surprise. The Wildcats are a game ahead of Texas Tech and two behind the trio of Baylor, Kansas State and Utah with three
league series to go.
The first of those for the UA is against the current frontrunner, Kansas, who is 17-4 in the Big 12 and 34-11 overall. Winning one game this weekend would go a long way toward ensuring it makes the conference tournament, since next weekend’s final home series is against last-place Houston (19-25, 4-17).
“We’re trying to win every game because we want to play in the Big 12 Tournament, and we have some work to do,” UA coach Chip Hale said Wednesday.
That was just over 12 hours removed from one of the most painful losses of the season, a 9-8 walkoff defeat at GCU that saw Arizona rally from down 3-0 early only to blow a 4-run lead in the bottom of the 9th. Everything that could go wrong in that final inning did, which has been a common occurrence this season.
“It was almost the culmination of what’s gone on all year,” he said. “We just continue to, whether it’s a walk, a hit batsman, wild pitches, an error, we put guys in scoring position when we don’t have to. Like, they haven’t earned it, I guess I should put it that way, and I think that’s hurt us a lot this year, whether it’s in the last couple innings or even early in the game.”
The UA is 6-11 in games decided by one or two runs this season. Last year, in reaching the College World Series, it was 20-3.
Arizona has only won one weekend series in Big 12 play, that being at TCU on the last road trip. The Wildcats took two of three, with both wins coming in the 9th after trailing most of the game.
“I think it was just playing loose, like nobody was tense,” first baseman Tony Lira said of that series. “I feel like everybody knew that we have been the battle back team. We’ve been down a lot of games, and we came back and won. Those were those fun games that we just saw, like we got this, we got this.”
Lira, a redshirt freshman, continues to lead Arizona in batting at .360. He’s also tops on the team in hits (63), doubles (14) and OPS (.980), and that’s been with opponents adjusting to how Lira handles at-bats with two strikes.
“His approach at the plate is very mature,” Hale said. “He takes his hits to right. He works counts. I think what Tony was really, really elite at early in the year was the 2-strike approach. He’d flip it and he would just take the hits to right, where the teams now have pitched him completely different. So he’s had to make some changes. And that’s what this game is about, right? Whether you’re in college with all the video now or in pro ball, they’re going to keep changing what they do to be successful, and he has to keep changing.”
Maturity and experience are in short supply in Arizona’s batting order, where it regularly has five or more true or redshirt freshmen playing. While Hale believes those guys are the ones who give his team the best chance to win these final games are also an unofficial tryout for 2027.
It’s a similar situation to Hale’s first season playing at the UA, in 1984, when a very young team went 22-36 (the second-most losses in school history) and coach Jerry Kindall “flipped” the roster the following offseason.
“We had a lot of talented guys that ended up playing in other places for the rest of their careers,” Hale said. “Ended up playing pro ball too, but just weren’t, great fits as Wildcats. And is that coming when the season ends, you know, we’re still trying to evaluate that. We’re still trying to put guys in some positions to see whether they belong or not.”
Tuesday’s loss at GCU was similar to one against Kansas State two weeks ago when several normally reliable relievers all struggled at once.
“We just got to forget about it, it was one inning,” said righty Corey Kling, who had thrown 2.1 scoreless innings earlier in the game. “Everybody that went in there has been good in the past, and they shouldn’t let that affect them. Things happen. I mean, it happens to the best of us.”
Kling, a junior transfer from South Florida who is 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA in 17 appearances, has four outings this season where he’s allowed multiple runs but also 10 scoreless efforts. Seven of those have been for two or more innings.
“I just try and go out there and pick up somebody if they need to be picked up,” Kling said. “Or we need a lot of innings out of the pen, go try and just do my best, get it done.”
After shifting lefty Luc Fladda to the front of the rotation last weekend, in order to keep righties Owen Kramkowski and Smith Bailey on their regular days, Arizona will go back to having Kramkowski open the series. All three UA starters have won Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors, with Fladda the latest to do so.
Fladda threw two innings at GCU, striking out three with no walks, and remains fourth nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (0.77) and third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.4).
