Box Score
TUCSON, Ariz.- Freshman pitcher Marc Kaiser battled out of an early first inning jamb and unseasonably cold weather to lead the Arizona Wildcats (6-7) to a 9-3 victory over New Mexico (0-4) at Frank Sancet Field Thursday afternoon. The win snaps a season-high five game losing streak and is UA's 12th straight win over the Lobos dating back to 1997.
Kaiser was the story for the Cats as the first-year hurler went seven strong innings while striking out an Arizona season-high eight Lobo batters. The Reno, Nev., native gave up only three runs, of which only two were earned, but it was his performance in a first inning jamb that set the tone for Cats.
Three Wildcat errors set up the Lobos with a run, the bases loaded and no outs. Struggling with control early, Kaiser settled down and continually hit his spots as he struck out the next three New Mexico hitters to retire the side and end the potential threat.
Down 1-0, Ernie Durazo drew a two out walk and Shelley Duncan extended his hitting streak to eight straight games with a single to left. Matt Abram then smacked a double to right-center off New Mexico starter Chris Cooper, plating Durazo and Duncan and giving Arizona the 2-1 lead.
New Mexico would tie the game in the top of the second with an RBI single from Scott Tajima that scored Dusty Young from second, but the tie would be short lived as Arizona scored two text book runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good.
Justyn St. Clair reached base to lead off the inning when Cooper plunked him on the shoulder. After catcher Ken Riley moved St. Clair up with a sac bunt to the pitcher, Clayton Bried singled to right and Brad Hassey walked to load the bases. Erik Torres lifted a sac-fly to right, scoring St. Clair, and was followed with an RBI single by Durazo to make the score 4-2.
Now settled in, Kaiser took over not allowing a runner to advance past first over the next three innings. A mistake to UNM's Matt Alexander resulted in a solo home run to right to lead off the sixth inning, bringing the Lobos to within one at 4-3, but Kaiser would again gain composure and control retiring six of the next seven New Mexico hitters to get Arizona through the seventh.
After a 15-minute snow delay, the Wildcat bats warmed up. Erupting for five runs in the bottom of the eighth, Arizona put the game out of reach. Bried collected two RBI in the inning and Hassey hit a two run triple to lead the Cats.
Daryl DeSalvo tossed a final two innings of one-hit ball to earn his second save of the season.
Offensively, the Cats were led by Bried who finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Duncan paired hits for the Cats while driving in one and Durazo extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
The two teams meet again tomorrow at 3 p.m. for the second game of the three game series.
