After a game where the offense couldn’t stack hits on top of each other and drive in runners the Arizona Wildcats were able to get, of all things, the long ball to appear in their offense. And the deep shots into the outfield was exactly what the Wildcats needed to top Justin Kelly and the UC Santa Barbara Guachos in the knockout stage of the College World Series.
For the last two games in the tournament, Jay Johnson was able to rely on strong pitching that dominated batters at the plate and got the crucial outs at the plate rather than force the defense to make plays. Bannister and Dalbec dominated the opposing offense with double digit strikeout performances in their games, while JC Cloney only gathered two in his entire seven innings of work. They were the only ones he needed however as he kept the Guachos offense tight and off balance with only five hits during that time before reliever Cameron Ming came in to finish the job in the final two innings.
Instead of a dominant and intimidating pitching performance, it was the bats that left the Guachos reeling. Arizona did not have a single player during the regular season break the double digit mark for home runs but in the game the team was able to carry the ball out to the warning track early on Justin Kelly. The third inning was where the damage came however after a single by Ramer and a Gibbons walk allowed Dalbec to come up with scoring position, which was a rare thing for the Cats in the previous game against Oklahoma State.
Dalbec was able to hit a deep ball after fouling off in his at-bat and forced the center fielder Andrew Calica to chase it down and run into the wall. That split second gave Ramer enough time to tag up at second and reach third base. After that Aguilar was able to get another deep show to center and the sacrifice fly brought in the first run, giving the Cats the early lead. The team did not need to wait long for the insurance runs to come in either.
The very next batter Jared Oliva crushed a shot to left field on the first pitch and brought himself and Gibbons home to make the game three to nothing, as it would stay for the rest of the afternoon. After that the pitching for Arizona had a single moment where a runner was in scoring position in the next half inning but quickly locked up and put the ball in spots where the Guachos would have to chase and throw the bat out for contact. Those resulted in quick little grounders and gave the infield for Arizona chances to make plays, which they did not fall short of doing.
The win puts Arizona back in contention and eliminates the Guachos from the College World Series with their second loss. Jay Johnson and his team of underdogs still have to go on to face an Oklahoma State team that has yet to lose in this CWS and in order for them to advance to the championship round the Cats must beat the Cowboys twice in a row in back to back days on the 24th and 25th. The idea of Bannister coming back to pitch the first game against Oklahoma State isn’t farfetched as it will be almost an entire week between starts but Johnson will likely keep his starter for that potential last game of the year to himself until the game is to be played.
Having Dalbec’s bat in the lineup clearly did something for the momentum of the team as it was his first fly out that brought the runner to third that seemed to spark the strength swing in the other players. While the young man has a great fastball as a pitcher he still comes out the strongest with a bat in his hand, something that Johnson did not let him have in the last game against the Cowboys. Even if Arizona beats OK State in the next game and Dalbec is called up to start in that double elimination game on the 25th, it is likely Johnson does not make the same mistake twice. But before that can happen, Arizona must do what they could not three days ago and beat the Cowboys in Omaha this time around.