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Arizona Baseball: Three Up, Three Down from series victory over Arizona State

2013-05-21T00:08:47Z

All three games were extremely stressful. On Friday, the Cats came out on top 10-7, but ASU repaid the favor with a 6-3 win on Saturday. Sunday, it all came down to Augey Bill in the 9th inning, and he came up huge with a 1-2-3 double play to end the game and give Arizona a 7-6 win.

Overall, the offense was fairly balanced up and down the entire lineup. The pitching staff was interesting. The bullpen struggled for the most part, but it could have been a lot worse than it was. Four total runs given up by Arizona relievers, but it easily could have been fourteen. The three starters averaging just under 7 innings really put the Wildcats in a position to win the series.

Here's the good, and the not so good from the weekend that was:

Three Up:

1. Tyler Crawford: Crawford was the star of the weekend for UA. Friday, he was unexpectedly called upon in the ninth to close it out after Mat Troupe's late-season struggles continued. As Crawford said, "I was sitting in the dugout and I didn't have cleats on, and they said put your spikes on, get loose."

Then on Sunday, Crawford ended up throwing 112 pitches, the first time he ever went over 100 pitches in his career. He threw 7 1/3 innings, giving up six runs, five earned, on nine hits and a walk. So in total, he finished the weekend with 8 1/3 innings, one win, and one save. Pretty amazing.

2. Joseph Maggi: Maggi always gets up for ASU, maybe because his brother played for the Sun Devils, maybe some sort of hero complex he's got in him. But Maggi ended up going 4-for-9 with 3 RBI, 3 runs scored and a walk. He also made an important play in the ninth inning of the Sunday game. With two on and no one out, ASU tried to move the runners over with a sac bunt, but Maggi had the ball hit right at him, and got the lead runner at third for the first out of the inning. Oh, and he scored the game-winning run in the 8th.

3. Brandon Dixon: After being named a Howser Trophy semifinalist earlier in the week, the junior went 5-for-12 on the weekend and drove in seven runs, including the game-winning run on Sunday. He also scored two runs of his own.

Three Down:

1. Mathew Troupe: Troupe is struggling right now. It's gotten to the point where Andy Lopez isn't relying on him to finish the game, and going with match-ups, which is how Crawford and Augey Bill got their saves. Troupe got one out in each game of the three-game set, walked seven guys, and gave up two hits and two runs. So he faced 12 batters and only got three of them out.

2. Cody Ramer: In his first starts in left field, Ramer ended up hitting just 1-for-11 and striking out three times. Head coach Andy Lopez: "He had a couple good at bats, he had some other at bats that I wish we had seen a little bit better result out of it. We're still searching." He did make a pretty good play in left field on Sunday though with a diving catch close to the warning track. It'll be interesting to see what the outfield looks like this weekend against USC.

3. Zach Gibbons: Gibbons also went 1-for-11 on the weekend as he moved over to right field with Ramer in left. He did drive in two runs, but also struck out twice.

Arizona 7, Arizona State 6: Wildcats win thriller to win season series against the Sun Devils

2013-05-19T23:51:57Z

In a back-and-forth duel in Tempe, the Wildcats pulled out a 7-6 victory to win the season series against the Sun Devils.

Tyler Crawford got the ball for the Cats, two days after coming on to save Friday's victory.

He went over 100 pitches for the first time in his career, going 7 1/3 innings, and allowing six runs (four earned). Most of the scoring by both teams was done from the bottom of the second through the top of the 5th, with 11 of the game's 13 runs in that time frame.

"You're running on adrenaline out there, and you're doing what you can" said Crawford.

But Crawford battled through it, while the ASU pitchers could not. The Sun Devils went through seven pitchers on the day as they knew that this game was make-or-break for their chances of hosting a regional.

In the top of the eighth inning, Brandon Dixon delivered the eventual game-winning hit, driving in Joseph Maggi from second on a liner to left.

Mathew Troupe came on in the bottom of the eighth, but his struggles continued, managing to only get one out before being replaced by Augey Bill.

Bill got the last out of the eighth, and went back out for the ninth.

ASU led off the inning with a single, and then put down a sac bunt to advance him to second. But Bill misplayed the bunt, giving the Sun Devils two runners on with no out.

Another sac bunt attempt from James McDonald did not pan out as well for the Devils as he hit it right at Maggi, who gunned down the lead runner at third.

An Augey Bill walk loaded the bases, which brought out pitching coach Shaun Cole to talk to the infield.

"I told him to talk about a come-backer, just make sure we have throwing lanes" said head coach Andy Lopez.

Well, as fate would have it, Augey Bill had the ball hit right at him.

"As soon as it came back to me I knew, turn the double play and you'll win the game" said Bill. "At first I started going to second base because that's just instincts...I slowed down, said go to home, get the out for sure.....and then Riley (Moore) made a nice play, turned the double play and ended the game."

"I'm going to stop and buy a lotto ticket on the way home" said Lopez.

"You wanna talk about the thing that's probably not gonna happen....we gotta talk about the come backer so we know exactly what we're doing."

That move paid off in a big, big way for the Cats, who improve to 12-15 in PAC-12 play. Next weekend, USC comes to Tucson for the last series of the regular season.

Wildcats 10, Sun Devils 7: Arizona scores early and often, holds on late for Friday night victory

2013-05-18T09:49:18Z

Last week, Arizona scored 8 runs in 27 innings at UCLA.

They had 9 through 3 innings on Friday.

Trevor Williams (L, 5-6) had no movement on any of his pitches. Combine that with Wildcat hitters finding every hole in the field, and you get nine runs in three innings.

Konner Wade (W, 5-6) had a great start on Friday after back-to-back horrible starts against Washington and UCLA. The junior righty went 7+ innings, allowing just 4 earned runs, (6 total) on nine hits and four walks. He also struck out five.

"He threw more strikes than he has the last couple weeks" said head coach Andy Lopez "the one thing I thought was really a difference maker is his change up had a little more run and sink so he got some swing and misses."

The Arizona lineup lit it up early on Friday, taking advantage of Trevor Williams' off-day. Brandon Dixon broke the game open in the second with a 3-run double down the left field line, part of a 6-run second for the Cats.

"We just had a good approach, we were laying off his pitches and getting ours." said Dixon.

"I was sitting off-speed that whole at bat and then I think he beat me with two fastballs in, and then he kept going back to that slider. I was sitting on it and he then he hung it a little bit, just enough."

Arizona State made things interesting late, going through Augey Bill and Tyger Talley before Mathew Troupe entered the game.

Troupe came in after three runs had already scored and runners on first and second. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, and the go-ahead run then came to the plate, Nathaniel Causey.

Causey ripped a Troupe pitch to deep center, but Johnny Field ran it down, laid out face-first into the warning track, and made without a doubt the play of the year for Arizona.

Troupe then walked the first two batters in the ninth, which brought on Tyler Crawford. "We need a win. If Troupe throws strikes we don't go to Crawford, but we need a win."

Crawford (S, 1) struck out his first batter, forced RJ Ybarra to pop out,and then a fly out to Johnny Field ended the game.

Crawford was definitely not expecting to pitch tonight.

"I was sitting in the dugout and I didn't have cleats on, and they said put your spikes on, get loose. I was pretty excited, yeah it was fun." Crawford said. "Anytime you're in a game like this, especially at this time of the year...I was just happy to be in that situation."

"From here on out, every game is going to be big" said Dixon. "We're kind of on the ropes, we gotta keep winning. We took care of today, gotta take care of tomorrow and then Sunday."

"They're all important now," added Crawford

The bottom of the order and the outfield had a different look tonight, with Cody Ramer starting in left field and Gibbons in right. They were the only two Wildcats to not record hits though. Gibbons did drive in a run and walk twice.

Arizona improves to 11-14 in conference play, and picks up a much-needed win over an ASU team that is highly-ranked in the RPI. The two teams meet again at Packard Stadium Saturday night at 6:30 PM. James Farris returns to his Saturday role to face the 10-0 Ryan Kellogg.

Wildcats "fortunate" to bring in Kansas transfer Zach Peters

2013-05-18T03:51:53Z

With the loss of Grant Jerrett, and transfer of Angelo Chol, the Wildcats had a few spots to fill, particularly in the frontcourt. And Miller found his man in former Kansas forward Zach Peters.

"We’re very fortunate," Miller said. "Timing sometimes is everything and in this case it really was. Zach Peters is somebody who Kansas recruited and was a part of the program. He got hit with a number of different early injuries and I think any freshman that deals with that many injuries in a short period of time, you can see why it took a while to get healthy. Now that he’s healthy, in his mind he had that thirst to be a college basketball player and pursue his dreams. I think we couldn’t have added a more quality player for what we need."

Now, expectations shouldn’t be too high for Peters, as he has experienced a litany of injury problems in his career thus far. The most concerning? Three concussions, two of which he suffered within a five week span last fall.

The Lawrence Journal-World said Peters suffered five incidents of trauma to his head over a 14-month period before choosing to transfer from Kansas.

He was a highly touted recruit early in high school but suffered a concussion as a junior, along with a number of injuries playing football as a senior and left high school a 3-star recruit.

Despite all of that, Miller still sounds pretty optimistic.

He said the UA looked "deeply" into the concussion history and is confident that Peters can contribute. Miller, though, was unsure whether or not a hardship waiver that would allow Peters to play for the UA right away would happen or not.

"His style, of play, he’s a very skilled player," Miller said. "He can shoot the ball from the perimeter and one of the things I was excited about is that he’s not small. He’s 6-10, he has a physicalness to him, he can move around on the perimeter, he can shoot the basketball, he can pass from the high post and he gives us a skill level that maybe we had with Grant moving forward."

The closest he’s been to game action came in Kansas’ summer exhibition tour to Europe last year where he averaged 5.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Wildcats vs. Sun Devils: Round 3 Live Updates

2013-05-18T01:07:17Z

Get live updates from Packard Stadium in the comments section. Arizona lineup is a lot different than it has been.

Arizona Wildcats (29-20, 10-14 PAC-12)

1. CF Johnny Field (.351)

2. 2B Trent Gilbert (.333)

3. 3B Brandon Dixon (.367)

4. C Riley Moore (.282)

5. SS Kevin Newman (.339)

6. RF Zach Gibbons (.314)

7. LF Cody Ramer (.205)

8. DH Jordan Berger (.303)

9. 1B Joseph Maggi (.282)

RHP Konner Wade (4-6, 4.38 ERA)

Arizona State Sun Devils (33-15-1, 14-10 PAC-12)

1. CF Kasey Coffman (.328)

2. 3B Michael Benjamin (.351)

3. 2B James McDonald (.275)

4. C Max Rossiter (.294)

5. DH Nathaniel Causey (.262)

6. RF Trever Allen (.309)

7. SS Drew Stankiewicz (.322)

8. 1B Dalton Dinatale (.307)

9. LF Jake Peevyhouse (.257)

RHP Trevor Williams (5-5, 3.59 ERA)

Sean Miller talks Grant Jerrett, Angelo Chol departures

2013-05-17T23:41:22Z

It caught just about everyone off guard when Grant Jerrett - he of 5.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 17.8 minutes per game - declared for the NBA Draft last month after just one season at the UA.

"Initially, I was surprised," head coach Sean Miller said at a press conference on Friday. "But that's all a part of it when you recruit a very talented young player.

"I think from Grant's perspective he felt he was ready and he was willing to make that climb to become an NBA player. I have no doubt that he has the talent to do it and I think just over the last month I received so many calls about him. My goal is to help him become the highest pick he can possibily become."

The initial reaction for Jerrett was that he was, at best, a second-round pick and would likely spend the first two years of his NBA career either overseas or in the D-League, but an invitation to Chicago's NBA Pre-Draft Combine solidified his status as, at the very least, an intriguing prospect.

"A lot of it will depend on how he performs from this point forward," Miller said. "One of the things Grant has to his advantage is that he has a true position in the NBA. He can play the four, he's very skilled, he's long, he's not a small guy at all. His best basketball is ahead of him for sure."

According to Draft Express, he measured at 6-foot-8 ¾ without shoes, 6-foot-10¼ with them, weighing 232 pounds with a 7-foot-2 wingspan and a 9-foot-1 standing reach. His ability to shoot the long ball, at that height, is probably his best attribute.

ESPN's Chad Ford tweeted that Jerrett was one of the top shooters from the Combine, hitting 72 percent of shots, which was comparable to Bucknell's Mike Muscala (76 percent), New Mexico's Tony Snell (74 percent), UNC'sReggie Bullock (72 percent) and Cal's Allen Crabbe (70 percent).

Ford also mentioned in an Insider-only article that Jerrett had one of the largest percentage of body fat.

Ford also told Arizona Daily Star's Bruce Pascoe: "Scouts really liked him in high school as a potential stretch four in the NBA. He just needs to shoot the ball well, show some athletic ability and maybe show teams that he's improved his body. I do think he's got a shot at the first round with great workouts. Lots of potential there."

DraftExpress has Jerrett ranked at No. 68 out of 100 prospects, an undrafted in its latest mock draft (there are 60 total draft picks, 30 in each round).

Former Wildcat Solomon Hill, though, is projected as a second-round pick by DraftExpress and ranked No. 49 overall. Hill, who is also at the combine, measured out at 6-foot-5½ without shoes, 6-foot-7 with, 226 pounds with a 6-foot-9 wingspan and a standing reach of 8-foot-7.

The ‘Chol Toll' moves to San Diego

While Miller admittedly was surprised at Jerrett's NBA decision, it really came as no surprise to him when little-used backup center Angelo Chol decided to transfer to San Diego State.

"I would like to keep all of our players here for four years," Miller said. "Our goal is to keep them here as long as we can. Angelo was in a situation in the first two years here where he didn't play a whole lot."

In fact, his playing time went down in his second year - he played 8.5 minutes per game last season, down from 12.1 his freshman year. Even with Jerrett's departure, the addition of Aaron "he's the second coming of Blake Griffin" Gordon, coupled with the return of Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley, plus 6-foot-10 junior college transfer Matt Korcheck, playing time would have been sparse.

"I think as he looked towards the future, regardless of how hard he worked," Miller said. "He still saw himself in a crowd and what he was looking forward to was going to a program where he had an opportunity to start and play the whole game and I think that's what, at least from my perspective, that's what he has in his next spot."

Chol will have to sit out a season, as per NCAA transfer rules, so he will miss the Wildcats matchup with San Diego State (in San Diego) next season.

Chol, who came to the UA a four-star recruit, averaged 2.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 63 career games at Arizona.

Previewing the weekend on the diamond for Arizona Wildcats Baseball and Softball

2013-05-17T20:50:29Z

BASEBALL:

The Cats have one last chance to prove they deserve a chance to defend last year's National Championship as they head to Tempe to take on ASU. The Wildcats (29-20, 10-14 PAC-12) are currently 86th in the RPI, with the Sun Devils (33-15-1, 14-10 PAC-12) checking in at 17. A series win would be huge for the Cats for so many reasons outside of the fact that whoever wins this series wins the Territorial Cup Series for the 2012-13 academic year.

The last five games between the two teams have been decided by a total of 7 runs, with UA going 3-2 in those games. Arizona's been decent in close games this year, going 14-8 in games decided by two runs or fewer. Anyways, all three games should be close games, coming down to the 8th and 9th inning and which bullpen can outlast the other.

Kevin Newman is Arizona's best hitter on the road this year, batting .351. The Cats are only 4-10 on the road this year though. Riley Moore figures to be a key factor in UA's success at Packard Stadium as he comes in with a .435 batting average vs. the Sun Devils in seven career games.

In conference games, Joseph Maggi leads the PAC-12 with a .463 on-base percentage, and is also batting .333 in those games.

The pitching rotation is changing yet again this weekend as well, as Konner Wade will go Friday and James Farris Saturday. Wade has not been good the last couple of weeks, and Farris has not been all that great either so it'll be interesting to see what the different amount of rest days will do to them.

Also, if you're planning on keeping an eye on the games or actually going to Tempe, be prepared for the games to go late into the evening. The first two games between UA and ASU this year averaged nearly four hours each.

Probable Pitchers:

Friday 6:30 PM : Konner Wade (4-6, 4.38 ERA) vs. Trevor Williams (5-5, 3.59 ERA)

Saturday 6:30 PM : James Farris (4-5, 4.20 ERA) vs. Ryan Kellogg (10-0. 3.36 ERA)

Sunday 12:30 PM : Tyler Crawford (5-2, 4.02 ERA) vs. Zak Miller (4-0, 4.28 ERA)

Ryan Kellogg was named as a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist along with Brandon Dixon this week. Zak Miller started the two Tuesday games played in Tucson earlier this year.

SOFTBALL:

Softball heads to College Station, TX for regional action this weekend. They go in as the 3 seed, facing Baylor on Friday at 2:30 PM on ESPN2. Texas A&M will face Penn at 5 PM. All of the games from the Texas A&M regional will be shown on ESPN2, and you can find the full bracket with game times here.

This is the 27th straight year that the Cats have made the tournament. They needed a big couple of weekends to finish out the year, taking two-of-three from ASU and Stanford to lock up that tournament berth this year. This year is the first time ever that Arizona has been unranked in the major softball polls. They went 32-24 this year, but just 9-15 in conference play.

Arizona is 14-4 all-time against Baylor, and 25-12 against the Aggies. The most interesting thing about Arizona's draw is that if they make it out of the regional, and No. 1 Oklahoma wins their regional, the Wildcats and Sooners will face each other in the Super Regional Round for the third straight year.

Arizona Wildcats Baseball: Brandon Dixon named semifinalist for Dick Howser Trophy

2013-05-16T23:15:53Z

The Dick Howser Trophy is given to the top collegiate baseball player in the country every year.

This year, Brandon Dixon is a semifinalist.

Dixon is the fourth Wildcat to be named to a midseason award watch list this year, after Johnny Field, Kevin Neman and Mathew Troupe were all honored with their own nominations.

Entering the weekend series in Tempe against Arizona State this weekend, Dixon leads the PAC-12 in batting average (.367), runs scored (52) and stolen bases (30).

He is also second in the conference in slugging percentage (.574), on-base percentage (.444) and total hits (69). In runs batted in, he comes in third with 43.

Those numbers put him on a pretty small list in Arizona school history. Dixon is just the fourth player in the history of the program to steal 30 bases, score 40 runs and drive in 40 runs. The other three to do it were Dave Stegman (1975), John Moses (1980), and Mike Senne (1986).

This season has been a huge improvement for Dixon over 2012. Last year, he split time at first base with Joseph Maggi, and only hit .245 with 14 RBI and 30 runs scored. During the offseason, he had laser eye surgery, worked on swinging down, and started making the transition to third base defensively. This year, he has started all 49 games at third base, and while defense has been a problem, he has been a force in the three-spot in the lineup.

By no means do I think he'll actually win the award. There's a guy playing at USD named Kris Bryant who has hit 30 home runs this year, and Mark Appel at Stanford of course are among the front-runners. But it's still pretty cool that Dixon has come so far in just one year.

Five PAC-12 players are on the semifinalist list, including ASU starting pitcher Ryan Kellogg, who the Cats will get the chance to face Saturday night at Packard Stadium at 6:30 PM.