TUCSON, Ariz. – Alfonso Rivas hit a walk-off single with one out in the ninth inning to lift the Arizona Wildcats to a 6-5 win over No. 4 Oregon State on Sunday in front of 3,032 fans at Hi Corbett Field.
The win secured a series victory for the Wildcats over the Beavers and improved coach
Jay Johnson's team to 19-11 on the season and 4-5 in Pac-12 play. The fourth-ranked Beavers dropped to 24-6 overall and 7-5 in league play. Arizona has now won nine of its last 11 games and has claimed three straight series victories.
The series victory marks Arizona's first regular season series win over a top 5 team since sweeping No. 2 Stanford at Hi Corbett in 2012.
The Wildcats trailed 5-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, before some home field magic hit.
Cal Stevenson led off the inning with a walk and moved to second when
Cameron Cannon was hit by a pitch. Both runners then moved up a base on a wild pitch. With runners on second and third and no outs, Oregon State pitcher Kevin Abel uncorked another wild pitch, allowing Stevenson to score and Cannon to move to third base.
Still trailing 5-3, Rivas drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Oregon State went to its bullpen at that point, bringing in Jake Mulholland to face cleanup hitter
Nick Quintana. Quintana singled to left to score Cannon and make it 5-4.
Cesar Salazar then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Rivas over to third and Quintana to second. Shortstop
Jacob Blas followed with a ground ball up the middle that shortstop Cadyn Grenier was able to field and get Blas at first. But it was enough to score Rivas and knot the game at five.
A strikeout ended the inning, but the damage was done with a three-run inning.
Tylor Megill, who came on to get the final two outs in the eighth, stayed on for Arizona in the ninth and worked a perfect inning to get the Wildcats back to the plate. In the ninth,
Matt Fraizer started things off with a single and moved to second on a throwing error from Grenier.
Ryan Haug followed with a bunt and reached when the Beavers decided not to throw to first, which would have allowed Fraizer to move to third.
Cal Stevenson then bunted both runners over to put two into scoring position with one out. After an intentional walk to Cannon to load the bases, Rivas drove a Mulholland pitch to deep left on a 1-1 count to score Fraizer and secure the victory for the Wildcats.
It was Arizona's first win this season when trailing after seven. The Wildcats are now 1-6 in that situation and 1-3 when tied after eight. Megill, who pitched 1 2/3 innings of hitless ball, earned his first win of the season and is now 1-2 on the year. Mulholland took the loss and is 1-1.
Despite trailing late, Arizona actually struck first in Sunday's rubber match. Quintana hit a two-run home run with two outs in the first to make it 2-0 and give starter
Zach Stone an early lead.
Stone tossed three perfect innings, before running into some trouble in the fourth. The first two runners reached against him, and Arizona went to the bullpen to bring in lefty
Avery Weems. The Beavers were able to plate two runs in the inning on an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly to tie the game at two.
An inning later, Oregon State added two more runs on an RBI double from Andy Armstrong and an RBI single from Cadyn Grenier. In the seventh, Oregon State scored again to make it 5-2 and set up Arizona's dramatic comeback.
The Wildcats will look to carry the momentum their next time out, Tuesday at Grand Canyon. First pitch is set for 6 p.m., in Phoenix.
