Arizona baseball: Three Up, Three Down: Hi Corbett Classic

The Hi Corbett Classic started with such a huge high for the Arizona Wildcats when they beat Mississippi State 12-3 on Friday and then took down UCSB 10-5 on Saturday. But Sunday's two games rolled around, and the Wildcats came back down to Earth with a 10-2 loss to the Gauchos, followed up with a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs.

At least the Arizona offense seems to be getting back to its normal self, and the pitching staff is starting to line up as Pac-12 play begins Friday vs. Washington St.

But here are the best and worst performances from the four games at the first ever Hi Corbett Classic.

Three Up

1. Trent Gilbert

Gilbert has been in three down a couple times this year, but man oh man did he have a huge weekend, probably Pac-12 Player of the Week worthy, and certainly SEC POW (joke...kind of).

Gilbert went 8-for-9 just against MSU. 11-for-19 overall this weekend, with his first career home run, drove in ten runs, scored six runs of his own, and racked up 23 total bases. Absolutely insane numbers from the second baseman. He also stole a base just to put the icing on the cake.

2. Scott Kingery

Kingery has been on three up almost every single series this year, and he just kept on rolling this weekend. I personally believe the move to center field helped his confidence not only in the field, but at the plate. Ever since Maggi lost that job, Kingery has been raking.

The sophomore went 6-for-15, walked five times and was hit by a pitch, stole a base, scored seven runs, and drove in one. He's the season leader in batting average (.419) and on-base percentage (.519). A leadoff hitter that gets on base more times than not? Yes please and thank you.

3. Bobby Dalbec

Dalbec may not have put the greatest numbers up at the plate this weekend, but his approach has considerably improved, which manifested in two singles through the 5.5 and 3.5 holes in the second UCSB game. He was struggling at the plate for the most part this season, but there is now reason to believe that his batting average will start climbing.

His numbers were: 5-for-14, one run, three walks, and one RBI. The freshman also picked up his first career save in the Saturday night game, coming on with one out in the eighth. He gave up one hit in his 1 2/3 innings.

Three Down:

1. Tyler Crawford

Crawford pitched so poorly against UCSB Sunday that he will not be starting next Sunday vs. Washington State. The junior lefty recorded just one out, walked two batters, hit two more, gave up two hits, and was eventually credited with five earned runs. His run is over as a weekend starter, but I would not be surprised to see him start one of the Air Force games on either Tuesday or Wednesday considering he only threw 28 pitches Sunday.

2. Riley Moore

Over on the Twitter, Moore seems to be the most controversial aspect of this team. I am not on team Moore, and this weekend was proof on my side. 0-for-14 dropped him from a batting average above .300 down to .211. More than just offensive struggles, he still can't stop the opposition's running game, and he can't frame pitches effectively for the pitchers. I don't know what the solution is behind the plate, but I am just straight up not a fan of Riley Moore playing every day at this current time.

3. Defense

It was an especially bad weekend defensively for Arizona, especially Kevin Newman. Eight total errors in the four games for the Wildcats, including five from Newman. To put that into perspective, Newman had just six errors in the entire 2013 season. The entire season. And he almost did it in just four games this weekend. That's crazy.

The poor defense is probably an aberration, but an extremely poor one at that.