SCOTTSDALE—If this happened to be the first time all season you watched Arizona baseball—perhaps because you didn’t get the Pac-12 Network?—you’re in luck: this is how it’s been all year.
Tommy Splaine’s single to left scored Emilio Corona from 2nd base in the bottom of the 9th inning, giving the Wildcats a 4-3 win over USC in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game at Scottsdale Stadium.
“We did it again,” Corona said after the UA’s eighth walkoff victory this season.
Seven of those have come against conference opponents, including last week’s 4-3 win over Oregon State to clinch the regular season title. Arizona is now 10-9 in 1-run games this season.
“My heart can’t take too many of these more, but that’s how this team has been,” coach Chip Hale said. “We’ve kind of scrapped, found ways to win, found ways to score runs late.”
Arizona (36-21) was down 3-0 entering the bottom of the 7th, but that only told half the story. The Wildcats were getting no-hit through six by USC sophomore Caden Aoki, who despite pitching on three days’ rest had the UA offense completely overmatched. He struck out eight of the first 18 batters he faced, the only baserunner reaching on a fielding error.
All that changed in the 7th when, with 1 out, Mason White broke up the no-no with a solid single, then Maddox Mihalakis worked a 10-pitch walk to chase Aoki. The last pitch got away from the USC catcher, allowing White to go to 3rd, and he scored on a Blake McDonald sacrifice fly to get the UA on the board.
Arizona tied it in the bottom of the 8th on an RBI single from Brendan Summerhill and a sacrifice fly by Garen Caulfield. That rally began with a single by Splaine, the only player in the game with two hits, and for the tourney he was 5 for 15 after coming in hitting .228.
“It’s funny because Tommy can have some at-bats where there are strikeouts and he’s not doing much,” Hale said. “But it seems like when the the game’s on the line he has his best at-bats.”
Arizona having a chance to win the game wasn’t possible without senior right-hander Cam Walty, who a week after going 8.1 innings in the regular season finale against OSU tossed eight against USC. He allowed three runs and five hits, three of which could have been caught had UA outfielders not misplayed balls in the wind earlier in the game.
Anthony ‘Tonko’ Susac came in for the ninth and got three groundouts, setting the stage for the walkoff.
McDonald singled with 1 out and was run for by Corona, who has been unable to hit or play the field since taking a pitch on his right hand on May 16. The team’s leading base stealer swiped 2nd on the first pitch to Andrew Cain.
“We had the one out, got him on, and basically just said, hey, if you get a jump, go,” Hale said. “He’s an elite baserunner.”
After Cain was intentionally walked, Splaine then deposited a 2-1 pitch into left and Corona never broke stride rounding third before sliding headfirst across home plate just ahead of the throw.
“I just really wanted to pull through for our team,” Splaine said. “I didn’t have a great two first at-bats. I was just sitting off speed there.”
USC (31-28) built its 3-0 lead by taking advantage of shaky defense from Arizona. The first run came in the 3rd on a double to deep center that turned Summerhill around and went over his head, and in the 4th got back-to-back triples on balls right fielder Easton Breyfogle misplayed before a legit RBI double.
“This was really scary early,” Hale said. “The at-bats were not great, the defense was not great and we stuck with it. And again, it’s all predicated on our starting pitching. When those guys keep us in the game we’ll have a chance.”
Arizona earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will be its fourth consecutive trip, which was last accomplished in the 1960s. The 64-team tourney field will be announced Monday morning, but Sunday at 5:30 p.m. the NCAA will begin tweeting out the 16 regional host sites.
With an RPI of 31, the UA’s chances of being one of those are slim. The selection committee has traditionally given those to teams in the top 16, or within a spot or two.
“That’s obviously not my decision, and whatever they want to do with us is perfectly fine with us,” Corona said. “We just want to keep playing ball and keep playing with this group. This is a special group and I don’t think anyone wants it to be done anytime soon.”
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