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Arizona's Bobby Dalbec tied it up in the ninth with a solo shot to right, but the Arizona bullpen couldn't lock it down as Utah Valley scored three in the tenth to manage a series split with a 5-2 win.
"He gave me that same pitch twice the first two pitches," said Dalbec. "I knew he was coming back with it so I just sat on it and got a good piece of it."
"I thought he had a good, miserable day," said head coach Andy Lopez. Dalbec went hitless in his first three at-bats prior to the solo home run. "His first three at bats were miserable, and he still had a good day."
The game was also highlighted by Tyler Crawford getting the start on the mound, just four days after a horrible outing to start his season on Saturday. Crawford responded, giving up just two runs over 5 2/3 innings.
"I think it was important," Crawford said of his start today. "Saturday was embarrassing, I'm a junior, and in this program that's just not acceptable. I'm glad I was able to come out and perform like I'm supposed to."
Crawford found out on Tuesday that he was going to be pitching Wednesday, but that didn't bother him at all.
"I was actually hoping for it," he continued. "I was hoping to get another shot as soon as possible."
After the game, coach Lopez confirmed that Crawford will start again this weekend, this time on Sunday instead of Saturday. Cody Hamlin will move up to the Saturday spot against Alcorn State.
Up until the tenth inning, the Arizona bullpen had done a stellar job over the two-game series, allowing just one run in a combined 18 1/3 innings. But that came crashing down when Sean Moysh drove in his third run of the game, followed up by two more run-scoring hits off of Arizona reliever Tyger Talley.
Talley has been moved out of the closer role for the upcoming weekend series, and Bobby Dalbec will be moving into that role.
"We're finding out who these guys are," Lopez said about his bullpen. "It's an area with not a lot of experience, so we're finding out through line of fire."
"(Dalbec) did a great job on Tuesday," coach continued. "He'll close for us this weekend."
Even though it was a loss, it was very important in a lot of ways. The team got experience with two close games, coming back in the late stages of both of those games, and the bullpen started to shake itself out a little bit. And Tyler Crawford got his confidence back. All very important things for this club as they head further into the season.