TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats jumped out to a lead over New Mexico State on Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field and never looked back in a 6-3 victory in front of 3,242 fans.
The Cats scored two in the second and two in the third to take a 4-0 lead and relied on strong pitching from there to improve to 12-0 at home this season and 16-4 overall.
Cody Deason, who started on the mound and went 3 2/3 scoreless innings, earned his first win of the season.
Michael Flynn tossed 2 2/3 hitless innings in relief to earn his first save of the year.
Arizona struck in the second inning when
Cory Voss singled with a runner on to put two men on with one out for
Cesar Salazar. The sophomore catcher dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Nick Quintana from third and move Voss up a base to second. The next batter,
Kyle Lewis, singled to right to score Voss and make it 2-0.
Deason threw up his third straight zero in the third to keep the Aggies off the board, and his offense made sure to get him more support in the third. With a runner on second and one out,
JJ Matijevic walked to put two men on. Two batters later, with two outs, Voss, making his fifth start of the season, doubled down the left field line to plate Matijevic and
Jared Oliva and make it 4-0.
New Mexico State got two runs back in the fourth when Marcus Still homered to cut it to 4-2. With a runner on second and two outs, senior right-hander
Austin Schnabel entered and got a groundout to end the inning and keep it 4-2. Schnabel then wiggled through the sixth, working around a single and an error to post a scoreless inning.
The Cats extended their lead in the bottom half. Quintana opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a one-out walk by Salazar. Lewis followed with a double down the left field line to score Quintana and Salazar, all the way from first, capping the scoring for the Cats.
The Aggies again cut into the lead in the seventh when designated hitter Mason Fishback walked with the bases loaded to cut it to 6-3. But Flynn got a double play with the bases loaded and one out to end the seventh and keep the Cats three runs ahead.
Flynn then cruised through the eighth and ninth innings, setting down all six men he faced over the two innings. He got a pop out, ground out and fly out in the eighth. In the ninth, he got a pair of groundouts and a strikeout to close out the game.
Arizona will now head to Corvallis, Oregon this weekend to take on Oregon State. The Beavers are ranked either No. 1 or 2 in all five major college baseball polls. The Cats return home on March 29 to host Grand Canyon.
