College World Series Finals 2012 Scores: Arizona Proves They Were Underrated
The Arizona Wildcats' dominant College World Series performance proved they not only deserved to play for the title but also that everyone who doubted them was selling them short.
They really showed the critics who deserved to be called champions with a 5-1 win on Sunday and a 4-1 win on Monday.
I must admit, I was one of those critics.
I was swayed by the Gamecocks' solid pitching, all the while discrediting the Wildcatsโ pitching staff and their bats.ย
In Mondayโs clincher, the Wildcats went through perhaps the mightiest of the Gamecocksโ ballyhooed arms. They notched a third-inning run off ace Michael Roth, and in the ninth they put a three-spot on the board against the Gamecocksโ closer, Matt Price.
In the end, as much as South Carolinaโs pitching staff didnโt shut the Wildcats down, the story was how the Arizona staff put the clamps on the Gamecocks' bats.
Arizona outscored South Carolina 9-2 in the two games. You arenโt going to win many two-game stretches where you average a-run-per-game.
The lack of run support put tremendous pressure on the Gamecocksโ arms to literally shut the Wildcats out. Arizona proved that just wasnโt going to happen.
The Wildcatsโ depth was apparent throughout. The PAC-12 Player of the Year, Alex Mejia, was just 2-for-9 in the two games, but the rest of the Wildcatsโ bats carried the offensive load.
Robert Refsnyder was voted the series Most Outstanding Player and deservedly so. He was 4-for-6 in the series with two big RBI in Mondayโs game.
The Wildcats are the champs, and they deserve their due.
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