Arizona
College World Series: Arizona baseball has shown ability to bounce back from losses
OMAHA, Neb.—Getting to the College World Series requires winning a bunch of games against very good opponents. The eight qualifiers have shown their ability to navigate two weekends’ worth of tough competition with little or no blemishes.
But once the CWS starts, someone has to lose. Arizona was one of the vanquished, falling 7-4 to Coastal Carolina in Friday’s series opener, dropping it into the loser’s bracket and one setback away from elimination.
“It’s a familiar feeling being at the bottom,” shortstop Mason White said.
Arizona (44-20) will play Louisville (40-23) at 11 a.m. PT Sunday, the first step in what would be a tremendously steep climb to stay alive in the series. The Wildcats would have to win four in a row to reach the championship series, with three of those on consecutive days.
It’s not impossible, as several CWS teams have accomplished this feat. Oregon State won the 2018 national title after losing its opener, as did South Carolina in 2010 and a pair of UA national champions. The 1976 and 1980 squads started 0-1 only to run off five in a row to earn the program’s first two titles.
None of those were this year’s Arizona team, but the current squad has shown the ability to “flush” losses quickly. Last weekend the Wildcats were thumped 18-2 at North Carolina in the first game of the Super Regionals and then came back to win the next two, both of which they trailed in the 7th inning or later.
That was the most recent example, while there were several during the regular season.
“They’ve done it all year,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “We’ve lost Fridays and won the series.”
The Wildcats lost 13-4 at Houston on May 15, a fifth loss in six games that eliminated any chance to host a regional and got them close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. But a day later they won 14-6, the start of an 8-game win streak that included perfection at the Big 12 Tournament (which was a trio of single-elimination games) and the Eugene Regional.
Arizona also won series against Oklahoma State and BYU after dropping the opener.
“I think this is a group we want to do it with,” sophomore pitcher Owen Kramkowski said. “This is all the guys we feel most confident doing it with. We’ve done it before, so it’s just taking it pitch by pitch and knowing it can happen. If we trust it it will happen. So just trusting everyone we’ve got with us is the biggest part right now.”
Arizona has lost its College World Series opener nine previous times, most recently in 2021. The Wildcats went 0-2 that year, but in four of the previous instances they’ve won at least one game after that initial loss.
Last night was the seventh consecutive game where the Diamondbacks were held to six hits or fewer. That ties a franchise record, last done in April 2022, and previously in August 2011. The team’s .477 OPS over that time is actually lower than either streak, though due to the efforts of the pitching staff, Arizona are actually 3-4 during the current run. They went 2-5 in 2022, and 1-6 in 2011. There hasn’t been a longer streak in the majors since the Angels went nine in April last year. In the National League, the Pirates went eight in June 2023. And in case you are wondering, the last team to reach a double-digit streak of games with 6 or fewer hits each time? The 1968 Astros reached 11, the year before the mound was lowered.
Let’s hope the D-backs render that moot and the offense comes to life a bit. The three runs added in garbage time last night, because one of the Rangers’ relievers couldn’t find the strike-zone, certainly padded Arizona’s resume. But they were more because of walks than hits. I’ve no doubt the team will hit better. They have batted .152 over the past week. It’s the second lowest in franchise history for a seven-game span. The only worse was April 7-15, 2022 when Arizona hit a remarkable .135, going 28-for-208 in that span. They actually scored three more runs than the current streak, mostly because they had twice as many home-runs (6-3).
Superintendent Tom Horne speaks at 2026 State of Education address
Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne spoke about controversial topics like DEI and ESAs at the State of Education address to the Legislature on Jan. 20, 2026.
Provided by Arizona Legislature
Democrats Brett Newby and Teresa Leyba Ruiz are set to make the argument to voters that they’re the best candidates to serve as Arizona’s top education official for the next four years.
The Arizona Republic will be streaming the Democratic debate for the Superintendent of Public Instruction race in partnership with the Arizona Media Association. The debate starts at 6 p.m. on May 13.
The office is currently held by Tom Horne, who will on May 14 face off in an Arizona Media Association debate against fellow Republican candidate Kimberly Yee, who currently serves as state treasurer.
Newby has worked as a behavioral analyst and professor, according to his campaign. He received a master’s degree in special education. His campaign has hinged on issues like downsizing the state’s controversial Empowerment Scholarship Program, retaining teachers and hiring more school counselors.
Ruiz attended Roosevelt Elementary School District and Phoenix Union High School District as a child before earning her Ph.D. from Arizona State University. She worked as a teacher at the middle and high school level before becoming president of Glendale Community College.
Like Newby, her campaign has also focused on the ESA program. She has also focused on advocating for more funding for public schools and supporting both rural and urban school districts. Ruiz has also spoken publicly about the teacher retention crisis as part of her campaign.
The last trip through the rotation for the Diamondbacks has been really good:
By that 5-game rolling average game score, it’s the best we’ve seen since a run around the All Star Break in 2022:
If we restrict to 5-game stretches with 5 different starters, it’s the best since September 2019:
So yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve had it this good. But this is still a far cry from the best in Diamondbacks history — the current stretch is only tied for 58th all-time. Here’s the best ever:
The good news is that there’s still quite a lot of room for Zac Gallen to improve on his last start, which had a Game Score of only 47. Doing so would give us an even better 5-game average. A score of better than 60 would surpass the 2022 streak; 69 or better would surpass 2018. Although it would take a career-best-tying 89 (reached against the Cubs on September 8, 2023) for him to pull the overall average into a tie for the franchise record. But any improvement on his last start would bring the rolling average up in the franchise rankings.
All records queried here are courtesy of Retrosheet.
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