Wildcat Wrap: Recapping a busy week of Arizona Athletics

It is Monday which means it is time to recap another week of Arizona Athletics. Let us know in the comment section if we missed anything!

Softball

• Arizona (15-5) won both its games against Drake on Thursday and Friday.
• Arizona routed Kent State to complete Friday’s doubleheader and Gina Snyder made her first official start of the season in the circle. Snyder, whose four-hit shutout against Team Japan didn’t officially count, made her case even stronger to be a fixture in the rotation by blanking Kent State.
• Arizona closed out the Wildcat Invitational with wins over No. 23 Minnesota and Kent State on Saturday and No. 19 James Madison on Sunday. The wins against Kent State and James Madison had plenty of drama as both games went into extra innings and, thus, featured walk-off hits.
• UA heads to New Mexico on Tuesday for a doubleheader against New Mexico State. Then Arizona will host one of the biggest series of the season when Florida State comes to town this weekend. The defending national champs are the No. 1 team in the country.

Baseball

• Arizona (8-4) suffered a midweek loss to New Mexico, thanks to a rough ninth inning in which a dropped foul ball spurred the Lobos’ comeback.
• UA bounced back Friday with 14-6 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The win was No. 200 for coach Jay Johnson in Division I coaching career.
• The Wildcats committed four errors against the Panthers in a 10-4 loss Saturday and appeared set to lose the finale, before they scored five runs in the ninth to win, 12-11.
• Sophomore Jacob Blas is away from the team because of a personal matter.
• UA hosts Michigan State on Tuesday and then welcomes College of Charleston on Friday for a weekend series.

Hockey

• Cue “We are the Champions” by Queen for the Wildcats because they are 2018-2019 WCHL Conference champs.
• UA beat Arizona State 2-0 on Saturday to win the cup for the first time in school history.
• The ‘Cats will get a couple of weeks of rest before the national tournament begins March 21 in Frisco, Texas.

Women’s Basketball

• Coming off two heartbreaking losses in the Bay Area, Arizona (17-12, 7-11 Pac-12) was given the unenviable task of hosting the Oregon schools, both of which are in the Top 10.
• Arizona held its ground against No. 6 Oregon in the first half, but the Ducks flexed their strength in the second half as they cruised to an 83-54 win. The Wildcats did not score in the fourth quarter.
• Arizona put up another valiant effort against No. 9 Oregon State on senior night, but lost in double OT.
• Helena Pueyo, from Spain, committed to Arizona. She is the fifth commit in the 2019 class and maybe the best one yet.
• Coach Adia Barnes was reprimanded by the Pac-12 for her comments on officiating in the game against California on Feb. 24.
• Arizona starts the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday against USC as an eight seed. The winner faces Oregon.

Gymnastics

• The GymCats brought home gold as they posted a season high team score of 196.450 in a quad meet in Texas. Seven GymCats achieved season and career high scores.
• The squad heads to the East Coast for a Sunday meet with North Carolina State, George Washington and Texas Women’s.

Men’s Tennis

• The No. 22 ‘Cats beat Cal Poly 4-3 Thursday in California, but their Saturday match against UC Santa Barbara was rained out.

Women’s Swimming and Diving

• The Wildcats finished fifth in the Pac-12 championships with 837 total points. Thirteen swimmers earned spots in finals.
• UA will be in Austin, Texas from March 20-23 for the NCAA Championships.

Men’s Golf

• Trevor Werbylo and David Laskin finished in the top-20 in the first round of the Querencia Cabo Collegiate in Mexico. The two ‘Cats had a combined five birdies in the round.

Men’s Basketball

• A buzzer beater by Devonaire Doutrive lifted Arizona (17-13, 8-9 Pac-12) past Oregon State in Corvallis.
• The latter part of the road trip didn’t go nearly as well, as the Wildcats were blasted by Oregon, 73-47. UO outscored UA 42-16 in the second half. The ‘Cats were abysmal shooting the ball in the second half, making 5 of 26 shots. Chase Jeter only played six minutes, thanks to the knee injury he suffered in the second half at Oregon State.
• Here are our takeaways from the Oregon road trip.
• UA and ASU go sneaker-to-sneaker on Saturday to close out the regular season. Arizona needs a win to prevent a losing conference record, which last happened in 2007-08.
• Winning the conference tournament is the only way the ‘Cats can make the NCAA tournament, but if they don’t go to the Big Dance, should they accept a bid to the NIT? Our Brian Pedersen took a look.
• Coach Sean Miller created another rallying cry during his press conference last week, telling a reporter that he can ”drive back to Phoenix” after asking a question pertaining to the Yahoo! Sports report of Miller being subpoenaed to testify in April in a trial related to the college basketball federal investigation.
• Channing Frye announced he will be retiring at the end of the season.

Football

• Nick Foles is hitting the free agent market.
• Donovan Laie received high marks as a pass protector as a true freshman.