SAN DIEGO – Alfonso Rivas III was scorching hot today as he went 5-6 and was a triple short of the cycle, leading Arizona to an 11-10 victory over Nebraska in 10 innings. Bobby Dalbec (2-1) was credited with a win and Louis Boyd came through with the game-winning hit.
It was an entertaining first inning as Rivas and Zach Gibbons picked up where they left off. Rivas singled to left and Gibbons doubled to right center, but the Wildcats could not bring either of them home.
Nebraska took the lead right away in the bottom half of the second after Ryan Boldt singled off of Cameron Ming and Jake Placzek homered to left field, making the score 2-0. That marked the first time that Arizona did not score the first run of the game all season. Ming was able to limit the damage though as he got three of the next four batters out.
The Wildcats responded well in the top half of the second. Dalbec led off with a walk, and then Jared Oliva and Justin Behnke both struck out. As was par for the course yesterday, Arizona did a fair amount of damage with two outs. Cesar Salazar singled to centerfield, which moved Dalbec to third base. Cody Ramer hit a high chopper to shortstop and beat the throw to first, which allowed Dalbec to come home. Rivas continued his hot streak as he doubled down the left field line, bringing home Ramer and Salazar. Gibbons made good contact in the next at bat, but a diving catch in right field ended the inning with Arizona up 3-2.
Ming got into a spot of trouble in the top of the third after two consecutive singles to lead off the inning had runners on first and third. The lefty did well to field his position as he was able to corral a tough groundball, keep the runner at third and throw out the runner at second. Salazar then threw out his first runner of the season at second base to get the second out of the inning. After walking another batter, Ming was able to induce a groundball to third base and Dalbec made a sharp throw to get the third out of the inning, holding Nebraska scoreless during the frame.
After a Salazar walk and Ramer reached on a fielder's choice in the top of the fourth, Nebraska starter Garett King was replaced by Jake McSteen to face Rivas. The freshman jumped on a 1-2 pitch and hit his first-career home run over the right field wall, giving Arizona a 5-2 lead. His two-run homer was the first one of the season for the Wildcats.
Ming was taken out of the game after back-to-back singles in the top of the fifth with one out and Austin Schnabel came on to relieve him. Schnabel immediately loaded the bases after hitting the first batter he faced and then he walked in a run, which caused Jay Johnson to bring in Cody Moffett from the bullpen. Moffett proceeded to walk the first batter he faced then a single to right field brought in two runs, making the score 6-5 Nebraska. Moffett did a good job to get the next two outs though on a fly ball to second base and centerfield. Oliva had to make a sliding effort in center to make the third out.
After Arizona could not respond in the top of the sixth, Robby Medel came on to pitch for Arizona and did his job in the bottom of the sixth as he tossed a perfect 1-2-3 inning.
Arizona threatened in the top of the seventh after JJ Matijevic reached on a fielder's choice and Dalbec hit his second double of the season off the left field wall. Behnke stepped up with runners on second and third with two outs and delivered a single up the middle, scoring Matijevic and Dalbec and giving Arizona a 7-6 lead heading into the seventh inning stretch.
After another perfect inning by Medel, Arizona scored three more runs in the top of the eighth. After Ramer reached on a fielder's choice and Rivas collected his fourth hit of the day on a single to left, Aguilar hit an absolute no doubter over the right field fence, giving Arizona a 10-6 lead.
Nebraska responded well in the bottom of the eighth as Medel allowed a walk and three straight hits to begin the inning. Rio Gomez entered the game with the score at 10-9 and was able to get the lone batter that he faced out. Dalbec then came on to pitch and struck out the first batter he faced, but the ensuing batter Jake Meyers singled to left field and tied the game at 10.
After Arizona could not put a run across the board in the top of the ninth, Dalbec kept the Huskers at 10 runs after Salazar threw out his second runner of the day at second base.
Rivas collected his fifth hit of the game in the top of the 10th, and then Boyd drove him in on a single up the middle to make the score 11-10. That would be enough as Dalbec shut the door in the bottom of the 10th.
The opponent and time is TBD for Arizona's third game of the Tony Gwynn Classic.
Game Notes
Nebraska took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, making it the first time Arizona had not scored the first run of the game.
The last time a freshman hit the first home run of the season was back in 2014 when Bobby Dalbec hit one against Utah Valley on February 19, which was the fifth game of the season.
The last time a freshman had five hits in a game was Joey Rickard against Cal State Bakersfield on May 8, 2010. Five also hits ties an Arizona record for most hits in a game
Zach Gibbons, Cody Ramer and Ryan Aguilar have reached base in all six games this season.
Cesar Salazar has his first career multi-hit game of his career as he went 3-4 today.
Arizona batted 9-18 with two outs today. The Wildcats are 18-35 with two outs during the Tony Gwynn Classic.
This is the first extra innings game of the season for Arizona.
The final score of the last two Arizona games has been 11-10.
FOLLOW BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona baseball by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaBaseball), Twitter (@ArizonaBaseball), Instagram (arizonabaseball) and Youtube (Youtube.com/UAWildcatBaseball).
