TUCSON, Ariz. – Despite home runs from Alfonso Rivas and Cal Stevenson, the Arizona Wildcats fell to Utah 12-5 Thursday night, in front of 2,749 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
 
The loss dropped Arizona to 26-10 on the season and 9-7 in Pac-12 play. Utah moved to 15-17 overall and 6-10 in the league. For Utah, starter Jayson Rose earned the win, despite needing 100 pitches to get through five innings. Left-hander Jacob Rebar came on to pitch the final four innings and earn his first save of the season.
 
Rose, who had a strong start against the Wildcats last season in Salt Lake City, allowed a first-inning home run to Rivas to give Arizona an early 1-0 lead. After Rivas' home run, Jared Oliva walked and stole second with one out, but the Cats couldn't get him home on two separate chances.
 
The Utes tied it up in the second and knocked Arizona starter Randy Labaut from the game in the process. DaShawn Keirsey Jr., had an RBI single and then Labaut walked Oliver Dunn to load the bases with two outs. Seve Romo came on to get the final out and keep the score tied at one.
 
But Utah's offense was just getting started. The Utes used a two-run single from shortstop Ellis Kelly to take a 3-1 lead in the third. Arizona again used the long ball to cut it to one. Stevenson tagged Rose for a solo shot to make it 3-2. But again, the Utes answered and scored, as they did every inning from the second to the eighth.
 
Utah added one in the fourth on an RBI single from Hunter Simmons to make it 4-2. The Utes stretched it to 6-2 when Dallas Carroll had an RBI single and Dunn scored on a throwing error from Stevenson.
 
The Cats cut it to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. JJ Matijevic, who had a one-out double in the inning, scored when Nick Quintana reached on an error. Cesar Salazar then used an RBI fielder's choice to score Mitchell Morimoto and cut it to two.
 
But that was as close as Arizona got. In the sixth, the Utes added two more to make it 8-4 and then got a two-run home run from Wade Gulden to make it 10-4 at the stretch. Morimoto had a sacrifice fly to score Jared Oliva in the bottom of the inning, but Utah added two more in the eighth to get the score to 12-5, which stood up as the final.
 
Oliva went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored. Matijevic went 2 for 5 with a run scored. He collected his 22^nd double, which leads the nation and his 52^nd career double, which tied Trevor Crowe for 10^th all-time at Arizona.
 
Quintana went 0 for 4, but walked in the first inning and has reached base safely in 25 straight games. Stevenson finished 2 for 5 and Morimoto was 1 for 2 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk.
 
The Cats will look to even the series Friday night. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.