Arizona Baseball: Wildcats Move on to the Super Regionals

Completing the Tucson Regionals, Arizona (41-17) and its surging offense provided too much force, as Missouri and Louisville wound up running out of available options to patch the leaks.

The No. 1 seeded Wildcats made work of Missouri on Friday night, 15-3 and hit Louisville hard twice, 16-4 Saturday night and 16-3 Sunday night. The Cats will enter the Super Regionals at a healthy clip, and it will mark the third time in the school’s history to reach past the first round. 

Friday: Welcome to the jungle.

Pounding out a staggering 20-base knocks in the team’s first home postseason opener since 1992, the Cats pounced all over the Tigers with a lopsided 15-3 victory.

All-American pitcher, Kurt Heyer (12-2), put the Cats in an early 2-0 deficit in the top half of the first inning, and that is all the damage that he would surrender, despite an unearned run that trickled across to cap off the Tigers last run of the evening.

After the early damage, Heyer didn’t allow a single base hit the rest of the way. Arizona broke free in the fourth inning, when Arizona sent 11 batters to the plate and knocked out two Mizzou pitchers.

Mizzou starter, Blake Holovach was charged with the loss, surrendering six earned runs off of 10 hits.
Arizona will advance to play the No. 3 seed Louisville Saturday night, as they look to head undefeated into the finals of the bracket.

Saturday: Seeing double.

To say the Cats felt right at home is an understatement. The Cats knocked around the Louisville pitching staff, striking for 23 base hits, to cap off the one-sided affair, 16-4.

In the first two games of the Tucson Regionals, the Cats have only had to dig into their bullpen for one inning of work. Starter, Konner Wade, worked into the eighth inning tonight, surrendering only two runs across the dish.

Sunday: Signed, sealed and delivered.

With the elimination of Missouri and New Mexico State, the bracket boiled down to a rematch between Arizona and Louisville, for a trip to the Super Regionals. Sunday night would be no different than the rest.

Posting their lowest hit total of the Tucson Regional of 15, their surging offense stayed hot, again reaching a double digit scoring margin with a 16-3 statement of a victory.

Their the No. 1 seed, and for good reason. There is no slowing this train down.

The highlight of the night was the third inning towering grand slam off the bat of Johnny Field, that put the Cats on top, and left the Cardinals unable to recover their losses. Field finished the evening with four hits and a respective seven RBI to his name.

Arizona starter, James Farris was lights out, tossing a complete game gem that consisted of seven strikeouts and only three runs.

By the looks of it, there is no way of slowing down this offensive powerhouse. Arizona would go on to collectively bat as a team, .472 in the three games.

Bring on St. John’s.