J.J. Matijevic, who had hit a grand slam in his previous at-bat, was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. With runners on second and third, the crowd wanted to see the Arizona second baseman get a chance to hit. Instead, Matijevic took his base on four pitches.
With the sacks packed, the Wildcats could not cash in, and the score remained 4-1 at the end of five frames.
The score stayed fixed at 4-1 until the final pitch, as Arizona defeated California State University Bakersfield on Saturday.
Wildcats starter J.C. Cloney turned in a quality start, going eight innings on one run, seven hits, four strikeouts and one walk on 104 pitches.
“Cloney was spectacular,” Arizona head coach Jay Johnson said. “That’s pitching at its finest. He threw pitches for strikes and used his fastball, inside and out, and there was a lot of deception in his changeup. (CSU) just couldn’t get any swings off of him tonight.”
After a scoreless opening two innings, the Wildcats posted four runs on one swing by Matijevic in the third.
Setting the table, Arizona catcher Ryan Haug drew a walk on a full count pitch and was then bunted over the second base by Cody Ramer. Both Ryan Aguilar and Zach Gibbons registered a base-on-balls on four consecutive pitches to load the bases for the Wildcats.
On the very first pitch he saw, Matijevic smoked a grand slam to right-center field to give his team a 4-0 lead in the third.
“(On his grand slam), Matijevic had the green light all the way,” Johnson said. “We told him to try to stay short and hit the ball hard, not far. But with his bat speed and talent, good results happen when he gets a good pitch to hit.”
The Roadrunners got on the board in the top of the fifth, manufactured by an infield bunt single, walk and a two-strike RBI single by Dustin Frailey through the right side. With two outs and runners on first and second, Drew Seelman singled to left, but Junior Felix was gunned down at home plate to end the side.
The 4-1 Arizona victory gave the junior transfer Cloney his second win of the season.
“Pitching off the fastball was effective for me tonight,” the left-handed pitcher said. “Something that we talked about in the fall was fastball command, and how if you have it, your pitches don’t have to be A-plus. You can kind of work with things. So that was big for me tonight – Establishing the fastball.”
Arizona closes out Wildcat Invitational with two victories on Sunday
The Wildcats carried their momentum from Saturday into their Sunday double-header, defeating both St. Mary’s and Northwestern on March 6.
In its first game win, Arizona defeated St. Mary’s, 11-5. The Wildcats scored all of their runs in the first four innings. Ramer, Aguilar and Gibbons had multi-hit games and combined for six of their team’s 10 total hits.
In Game 2 against Northwestern on Sunday, Arizona was led to a 4-1 victory by starting pitcher Nathan Bannister, who tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings on three hits and five strikeouts.
“I think the team chemistry this year is spectacular,” Johnson said. “They’re a tight-knit group. They are a very committed group. One of our sayings is, ‘It can never be more important to the guys in the other dugout than it is to us,’ and I feel like they are living that out.”
With the Sunday wins, Arizona improved to 8-4.
“We play 58 games (in a season) – I mean, it’s a grind,” Johnson said. “So we have to create some type of edge, and I think they’ve done a nice job at that.”
The Wildcats face-off next against Sacramento State on Friday, March 11. Gametime is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST at Hi-Corbett Field.
