Under the Saturday night lights, the stands at Hi-Corbett Field filled to 8,067 for the much-anticipated Game 2 between rival colleges Arizona and Arizona State University.
The 8,000-plus crowd set a new attendance record for an Arizona baseball game. It marked the largest ever at Hi-Corbett Field. The previous high was set in 1966, which was also an Arizona vs. ASU game and drew in 6,373.
“Pitching in front of a crowd this size was unreal,” Arizona starter J.C. Cloney said. “I loved it. I hope for more turnouts like this so more pitchers can experience it.”
After Arizona and ASU each went down in order in the first inning, both sides managed to get a runner as far as second base in the second, but neither team could cash in.
The third and fourth frames were quiet as well. Despite an Arizona base-on-balls, each club had 1-2-3 innings, as the game remained scoreless through four.
In the top of the fifth, ASU’s Brian Serven led off the inning by smoking a sharp single into the right-center gap. The catcher got as far as third base but was left stranded.
Then, the energy changed…
In the bottom of the fifth, the Wildcats drew first blood.
Back-to-back walks and a sacrifice bunt set up runners at second and third with one out for Arizona.
Wildcats second baseman Cody Ramer then hit a shallow flyball to left field. Cesar Salazar, who was on third, tagged up and dashed toward the plate. He slid into home safely on a very close play to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
The crowd was deafening. But the 8,000-large were not done cheering that inning.
The next batter, Zach Gibbons, shot a two-out RBI single to left field, scoring Luis Boyd.
“The crowd was awesome,” Arizona head coach Jay Johnson said. “Just amazing.”
Bobby Dalbec then struckout to end the frame.
After five, the Wildcats held a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth inning, ASU’s Jordan Alboites led off with a first-pitch single. Gage Canning followed with a basehit to left field, but Alboites made a baserunning error and was out at second base.
Before a pitch was thrown to the next batter, Canning was picked off of first base for the second out. On the pick-off throw, the ASU outfielder didn’t slide back to first.
“I’ve never picked off a guy standing up like that,” Cloney said. “That was a little confusing to me, but I’ll take it. The baseball Gods were on our side that inning.”
With the bases now empty, David Greer grounded out to end the side.
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Wildcats tacked on two more.
Ryan Aguilar opened with a double to left field. A successful sacrifice bunt moved him to third, and a Kyle Lewis RBI single to center drove him in.
With Arizona up by three, a single by Salazar and a RBI bunt by Boyd increased the Wildcats’ winning margin to 4-0.
The seventh frame was scoreless by both teams.
In the top of the eighth inning, Sebastian Zawada got his team on the board with a towering homerun to right field to put the game at 4-1.
After getting two outs and giving up a single, Cloney’s night came to an end. The left-hander went 7 2/3 innings on six hits, five strikeouts and no walks.
“J.C. was awesome tonight,” Johnson said. “ Against a right-handed hitting lineup like that, you can’t do it any better than he did.”
With Dalbec now on the mound, ASU’s David Greer hit an RBI single through shortstop to make it a two-run ballgame, 4-2.
To celebrate another run scoring, ASU fans in the crowd started to chant “A-S-U,” but the Arizona fans would not be having any of that on their home turf. They quickly silenced them with a loud and unified “U-of-A” cheer.
With the crowd still active, Sun Devils shortstop Colby Woodmansee walked to load the bases.
“I told myself that I wasn’t going to let (the next batter) beat me,” Dalbec said. “So I tried to bear down in that moment. I didn’t want to nimble – I wanted to go after him.”
Andrew Snow then struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the side.
“The crowd was great on that strikeout,” Johnson said. “People were waving towels and yelling and screaming and banging against the rails. It was amazing.”
In the bottom of the eighth, Arizona had gotten runners on second and third with one out, compliments of two walks and a groundball out.
It was then that ASU made an unconventional defensive shift. They brought their left fielder up to play between second and third base. So instead of having six infielders, the Sun Devils had seven. The centerfielder and right fielder remained in the outfield.
A Justin Behnke walk loaded the bases for Ramer, who struck out looking. With two outs, Gibbons sent a deep fly ball to right field that was caught on the warning track to end the inning.
In the ninth, Andrew Shaps singled with one out. But the Sun Devils could not produce anything more, as the high-octane contest ended in Arizona’s favor, 4-2.
““It was fun playing in front a crowd this size,” Dalbec said. “The attendance record was set last night, and we had 2,000 more tonight. It was definitely something special.”
