ARIZONA WILDCATS
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
106 McKale Center || Tucson, AZ 85721 || P: 520.621.4163 || F: 520.621.2681
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2018
CONTACT: DANIEL BERK (dberk@arizona.edu)
ARIZONA BASEBALL
 
Big First Inning Dooms Cats Against Cougars
 
TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats suffered their first home loss of the 2018 season Saturday night, falling to Washington State 5-4 in front of 3,053 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
 
Arizona dropped to 12-10 overall and 1-4 in Pac-12 play. Washington State improved to 5-13 overall and 1-4 in league play.
 
The Cougars did all of their offensive damage in the first inning, scoring all five of their runs off Wildcat starter Avery Weems. Their five-run first inning held up, despite 8 1/3 stellar innings of relief from Arizona right-handers Juan Aguilera and Robby Medel, who gave up just six hits and struck out eight to give the Cats multiple opportunities to win the game.
 
In the first, third baseman Dillon Plew started the Cougar rally with a one-out single. He moved up a base when first baseman James Rudkin followed with a single of his own. Cleanup hitter Justin Harrer then doubled to plate Plew for the first run of the game. Right fielder Blake Canton was next with an RBI single to score Rudkin and make it 2-0.
 
After a single from Ryan Ramsower, center fielder JJ Hancock was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring Harrer home and make it 3-0. Weems got eighth-place hitter Jack Smith to strikeout for the second out of the inning. But catcher Robert Teel singled on an 0-2 count to score Clanton and Ramsower to make it 5-0.
 
Aguilera then came on, and after a walk, he got Plew to ground out to end the inning.
 
The Cats got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning to cut into the lead. Cal Stevenson was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a Cameron Cannon single. Alfonso Rivas moved both runners up on a ground out. Stevenson then scored on a passed ball and Cannon moved up to third. Nick Quintana brought Cannon home on an RBI groundout.
 
The Cats threatened again in the second, loading the bases with two outs, but a Quintana ground out ended the inning.
 
Aguilera was dominant in his stint, keeping the Wildcats in it. He worked around a two-out single in the second, and then retired 10 in a row. In the fifth, he struck out the side – all swinging—and had struck out five of six batters over two perfect innings in the fourth and fifth. In the sixth, with two outs and nobody on, Aguilera issued a walk, which ended his night.
 
He went five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and two walks, while striking out six and lowering his season ERA to 0.49. Dating back to last year, Aguilera has given up just one earned run over his last 24 innings.
 
Medel came on, and after giving up a single to the first batter he faced, he got Plew to fly out to end the inning.
 
He again pitched a scoreless seventh, before the Wildcats again cut into the Cougars lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the cats loaded the bases with nobody out when Cannon was hit by a pitch and Rivas and Quintana drew back-to-back walks. Cesar Salazar brought Cannon home on an infield single and Rivas was able to score when first baseman James Rudkin threw the ball away.
 
That made it 5-4 with runners on second and third. Blake Paugh then walked to reload the bases with no outs. But an infield fly, a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning for the Cats and kept them off the scoreboard.
 
Medel tossed scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, but the Cats went in order in both innings and suffered their eighth one-run loss of the season. Medel went 3 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and two walks, while striking out two.
 
Salazar extended his on-base streak to 20 games and Stevenson now has an 11-game hitting streak. Salazar was 3 for 5 with an RBI to lift his average to .359 on the season.
 
The rubber match is set for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Right-hander Michael Flynn will start for Arizona.