May 6, 2011
Arizona 10, Alcorn State 2 (Box Score)
TUCSON, Ariz. - Kyle Simon turned in his third complete game of the year and the Arizona baseball team jumped out to an 8-0 lead before rolling to a 10-2 victory in the series opener against Alcorn State on Friday evening at Kindall Field/Sancet Stadium.
Arizona (28-16) won its fourth straight game as it used a balanced all-around effort to defeat the visiting Braves. The Wildcats collected 15 hits - including a home run, a triple and three doubles - while making several key defensive plays to aid Simon's nine-inning effort on the mound.
Simon scattered four hits and two runs - one earned - in the game. He struck out six and walked one as he improved to 8-3 on the year.
The Wildcats started the scoring early with three runs in the first inning. Joey Rickard drew a walk and scored on Bryce Ortega's triple to right center. Ortega raced home on a double by Cole Frenzel, who later scored on a sacrifice fly out by Robert Refsnyder.
An inning later, two more runs crossed home. Bobby Rinard singled to lead off and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt to first base by Braves' starter Steve Easter. Rinard scored on a groundout by Alex Mejia, before Rickard launched a solo home run to left field to push the advantage to 5-0.
In the third inning, the Wildcats knocked home three more runs. Mejia and Seth Mejias-Brean each had run-scoring singles, while Rickard drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 8-0.
Simon surrendered his first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Kilby Perdomo hit a two-out triple and came in to score as Simon was unable to cleanly field a tapper back to mound off the bat of Jann Butler.
Alcorn State (22-21) capitalized on another two-out triple in the sixth inning. With Brandon Hollins on third, Antolin Morales drove in the second run of the game with a single to left field.
Arizona tacked on a pair of runs in the home half of the eighth inning. Ortega doubled to lead off and scored on a run-scoring single by Frenzel, who was later forced out at second on a fielder's choice groundout by Johnny Field. Jett Bandy knocked in Field with a sacrifice fly to set the score at its final, 10-2.
The two teams will hit the field again on Saturday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Kindall Field/Sancet Stadium.
