Tucson, Ariz. – Nathan Bannister tossed eight shutout innings Friday night at Hi Corbett Field to lift the Arizona Wildcats to an 8-0 win over Washington State in front of 3,065 fans.
Bannister, who has been strong at home all season, took it to a new level in Friday's win. The senior right-hander set a season-high in innings pitched, strikeouts and pitches thrown in lifting the Wildcats to the series-opening win.
The senior scattered three hits over eight innings and struck out seven, while walking three. On the season, Bannister is now 4-0 at home this season with a miniscule 0.83 ERA in 32 2/3 innings pitched.
Making Friday night's effort even more impressive was that Bannister had to escape a jam right away in the first inning to turn in his sterling performance. The first batter of the game, Trek Stemp, reached on an infield single and the next two batters – Dugan Shirer and Mason Cerrillo – walked to load the bases with no outs.
But Bannister settled in after a visit from pitching coach Dave Lawn and struck out the next two hitters. He then got a fly out to left field from Cameron Frost to end the threat.
“He got out of that by throwing strikes; low strikes, in and out,” coach Jay Johnson said. “He had control of his stuff and was just awesome.”
Bannister retired the side in order in the second and allowed just one baserunner to reach third base over his final seven innings. His night ended when he got Patrick McGrath to ground out to second base to end the eighth inning.
The Wildcats didn't offer Bannister any run support until the fifth inning when they broke a scoreless tie. Justin Behnke led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single from Cody Ramer. After a sacrifice bunt from Jared Oliva moved both runners up, Behnke was able to score on a fielder's choice by Cesar Salazar for the first run of the game.
Arizona (19-11, 4-6 Pac-12) went right back to work in the sixth after Bannister was strong in the top half of the inning. Zach Gibbons started the frame with a double and Alfonso Rivas followed with a walk. Bobby Dalbec then advanced both runners a base.
Johnson then opted to pinch-hit Kyle Lewis, who came through with a double to score Gibbons and make it 2-0. Rivas scored a batter later when Behnke laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt with two strikes to increase the lead to 3-0.
The Cats again tacked on a run in the seventh. Ryan Aguilar hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Oliva, who reached on an error and stole his league-leading ninth stolen base of the season.
Leading 4-0, Arizona added plenty of insurance with a four-run eighth. Ramer had a bases loaded walk for the first run of the inning and Oliva hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0. Salazar capped things off with a two-run single to score Behnke and Ramer and make it 8-0.
Freshman righty Michael Flynn took over for Bannister in the ninth and pitched a perfect inning to lock down the win.
Ramer, Aguilar, Gibbons, Rivas and Lewis all finished with two hits in the win. Salazar had three RBI and Behnke had a hit, two walks and two runs scored.
The Cats will look to win the series Saturday when the two teams meet at 6 p.m. Left-hander JC Cloney will start for Arizona. Washington State (9-18, 2-8) will turn to right-hander Ryan Ward.
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