Arizona Blows Lead, Falls 5-4

Arizona  blew a 4-2 lead in the 7th inning to fall to the Cougars of Washington State on Friday 5-4.  Arizona, (16-17, 3-10 in Pac-10), was unable to hold on after Preston Guilmet provided six strong innings. In the 7th is where he ran into trouble. Preston had a triple hit off of him, followed by a strikeout, and then a squeeze bunt that went for a single as  well.  Preston was also the victim of outfielder Hunter Pace's misplay on a deep fly ball which went for a triple and another RBI. Arizona also had 2 errors in the game. (Surprise, Surprise)

The hitting was OK. Jett Bandy made an appearance in the lineup and was 3-4 with 2 runs  and 2 RBI's. After giving up the 7th inning rally, the Cats were unable to come up with another run. Our 1-4 hitters were a combined 0-13 in the game.  Arizona played a great game against a good Cougar team and came up short because coach didn't pull Preston in time.

Honestly, I am not sure if Lopez knew what to think about our starting pitcher going more than 2 innings. He probably thought he could ride Preston the whole game.  Our middle relievers and Stoffel have been pretty dang good this year considering they have had to work deep into games because of the lack of quality starts from our pitching.  Know your strengths coach. You've got Stoffel to lock down the last two innings, which means that we only needed 1 inning from any combination of our 6 middle relievers.  On to Saturday's game......

Box Score