The Tucson Regional was widely considered the toughest of the 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Host Arizona found out just how tough, becoming the first national seed eliminated.
Dallas Baptist knocked out the No. 13 Wildcats with a 7-0 win Saturday, less than 24 hours after Grand Canyon, the No. 4 regional seed, beat them 9-4.
Arizona, picked ninth in the Pac-12 in the preseason, swept the conference regular-season and tournament championships and was made host of a regional including four teams with a combined .649 winning percentage.
The Wildcats had gone a combined 10-1 in the two previous regionals it hosted at Hi Corbett Field and made it to the College World Series both times (2012 and 2021).
But they went scoreless over their last 12 innings this weekend, and the loss to No. 2 regional seed Dallas Baptist marked only the second time they’ve been shut out this season.
“It’s glaring to me how good everybody is in college baseball,” Arizona coach Chip Hale said. “You look at Grand Canyon, We played them four times and they beat us three, and they’re supposedly a mid-major. It’s a great thing about college sports in general. We see it in the NCAA basketball tournament. We see big upsets. It’s fun for those teams. It’s not fun for us.”
Arizona managed three hits and four walks in six innings against Patriots starter Jaron DeBerry and just two singles the rest of the way against three relievers. Cam Walty allowed a season-high six runs in four innings, his shortest outing since March 30. He left after Tom Poole hit his second homer of the game with no outs in the fifth.
The Wildcats were 12 for 64 (.188) in the two regional games, including 5 for 27 with runners on base.
Arizona has gone 0-2 in back-to-back tournaments. Last year, the Wildcats went winless in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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