Tucson, Ariz. – Bobby Dalbec earned his Pac-12-leading seventh win of the season and the Arizona Wildcats topped Washington State 7-3 Sunday morning at Hi Corbett Field.
The victory improved the Wildcats to 20-12 on the season and gave Arizona the series win over the Cougars.
“We have some things we need to clean up from today, and that's what we are going to talk about right now for a little bit,” coach Jay Johnson said. “But I love their approach. They're doing everything we're asking them to do as hard as they can.”
For his second straight start, Dalbec went 7 2/3 innings, putting his team in good position to earn a victory. Against BYU on Monday, Dalbec went 7 2/3 and lifted the Cats to an 11-5 victory over the Cougars. On Sunday, Dalbec again worked into the eighth inning and left with a three-run lead.
All total, Dalbec went 7 2/3, giving up six hits, two earned runs, two walks and striking out seven. He exited with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, but junior right-hander Kevin Ginkel came on to get a groundout to end the inning and send the game to the bottom of the eighth.
Dalbec is now 7-3 on the season and leads the Pac-12 Conference with his seven wins. The big right-hander made his first 13 appearances of the season out of the bullpen, but has started in his last two outings against BYU and Washington State and has flourished.
“He came out and was a little shaky, but the dude competes; he flat out competes,” catcher Ryan Haug said of Dalbec. “He just gets in there and makes a lot of tough pitches, and that's what he did today.”
Washington State scored one run in the first off of Dalbec and then added another in the second to grab an early 2-0 lead. But Arizona responded right away in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs and taking a lead it would never give up.
Ryan Aguilar led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a single from Dalbec. After a double play erased Dalbec and moved Aguilar to third, Kyle Lewis doubled to score Aguilar for Arizona's first run of the game. Lewis then scored when Haug doubled on a full count and moved to third on an error by the left fielder.
Haug then gave the Cats the lead when he scored on a wild pitch.
Leading 3-2, Arizona added another run in the third. Zach Gibbons singled after Cody Ramer and Jared Oliva produced back-to-back singles to score Ramer and make it 4-2. The Cats weren't able to add any more runs.
The Cougars then got their final run off Dalbec in the fourth. Ty Johnson scored the run for the Cougars when Trek Stemp reached on an error for an unearned run for Dalbec.
The Cats weren't able to extend their lead at all until the seventh inning. Lewis started things off with a single up the middle and moved to second when Haug reached on a bunt single. Louis Boyd then reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Ramer singled through the left side to score Lewis and Haug scored one batter later when Jared Oliva hit into a double play to make it 6-3.
After Ginkel got out of the jam in the top of the eighth, Arizona plated its seventh run when Lewis laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Dalbec, who had walked with one out.
Ginkel then pitched a scoreless ninth and earned the first save of his Arizona career.
Ramer, Lewis and Haug all finished with two-hit games in the win. Lewis went 4 for 4 on the weekend. He went 2 for 2 Sunday with two runs scored and two RBI. Haug went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Ramer finished 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Dalbec went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a walk, in addition to his pitching line.
The Wildcats will return to action Tuesday when they travel to Phoenix to take on Arizona State in a nonconference matchup. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks with Ted Robinson and Scott Erickson on the call.
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