Phoenix – Kevin Ginkel took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Bobby Dalbec hit his fourth home run in five games at Phoenix Municipal Stadium as the Arizona Wildcats downed rival Arizona State 8-0 Tuesday night in a nonconference affair.
Ginkel, making his second career start, was masterful against the Sun Devils, tossing a two-hit shutout. He retired the first 18 batters he faced before giving up a single to Andrew Snow to lead off the seventh inning. The junior right-hander from Lakeside, Calif., retired the next batter on a lineout to Dalbec at third base and then got a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double to play to end the eighth and face the minimum 21 batters through seven.
The righty didn't allow a ball to get out of the infield until there was one out in the third inning and was on cruise control throughout his outing. The Southwestern Junior College product struck out the side in the sixth and needed just 73 pitches to get through his first seven innings. He then retired the side in order in the eighth to face the minimum through eight.
Ginkel finished off the shutout in the ninth, allowing his second and final hit. He finished the game, allowing just the two hits and no walks. He struck out seven and faced just one over the minimum.
“You can't pitch any better than that,” coach Jay Johnson said after the game. “He owned the strike zone. He was aggressive and down in the zone all night. You really just can't do it much better than he did tonight. It was fun to watch.”
The outing marked Ginkel's second career win as he improved to 2-0 on the season and helped move the Wildcats to 27-14 on the year. The win also evened up the season series with the Sun Devils at one game apiece. Arizona State will visit Hi Corbett Field next month for a three-game conference set.
One of Johnson's first recruits at Arizona, Ginkel was drafted twice prior to coming to Arizona. He was picked in the 26th round of the 2015 draft by the Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants in the 16th round of the 2014 draft. Ginkel also pitched in the prestigious Cape Cod League last summer for the Cotuit Kettleers, before coming to Arizona.
“We knew we had a great arm in him,” Johnson said. “You've really seen him come into his own since the BYU game.”
Ginkel's offense provided plenty of support for him, pounding out 16 hits in the win and scoring in five of nine frames. The Cats plated one run in the first inning when Ryan Aguilar singled up the middle to score Zach Gibbons. Arizona added two more in the fourth on RBI singles from Louis Boyd and J.J. Matijevic to move it to 3-0.
Dalbec then stretched the lead to 5-0 in the fifth with a two-run shot to centerfield. The slugger homered three times in a three-game set against Arizona State at Phoenix Municipal last season.
The Cats plated two more in the seventh and one more in the eighth to make it 8-0.
The Cats had seven players record multiple-hit games in the win. Aguilar went 3 for 5, while Cody Ramer, Gibbons, Jared Oliva, Matijevic, Boyd and Justin Behnke all had two-hit games. Arizona has now won 10 of its last 13 games and five straight.
Gibbons has 13 multi-hit games in his last 21 contests.
The Wildcats play next on Thursday when they open a three-game series at USC on Thursday. All three games in the series will be televised by Pac-12 Networks. Roxy Bernstein and Kevin Stocker will have the call.
