Stanford vs. Arizona: Trent Gilbert walks off first Friday night win in a long time for Wildcats

The Arizona Wildcats were down 2-1 in the ninth, so of course they were going to lose, right?

Wrong.

Freshman Michael Hoard hit a single up the middle to score Trent Gilbert from third to tie up the game off of Stanford reliever AJ Vanegas.

"Big hit for Michael Hoard," head coach Andy Lopez said afterwards.  "Good to see a freshman grow up here."

After a 1-2-3 inning for Bobby Dalbec in the top of the tenth, the top of the Wildcat line up came up to bat.  Zach Gibbons walked, but a poor bunt by Kevin Newman put the shortstop on first with one out.

Scott Kingery followed that up with a single to left to bring up Gilbert, who was already 3-for-4 on the night.

The junior came through, picking up his fourth single of the night, scoring Newman and giving Arizona the W.

"Felt good," said Gilbert.  "Nothing too different.  Just a 2-0 pitch, and I was able to square it up."

"Usually when I get four hits, at least one or two of 'em would go for extra bases," he joked.  "I was joking with someone that last one would have been an extra base hit, but (they got to me too fast)."

James Farris had another great start, going 8.1 innings, surrendering just two earned runs on ten hits and no walks.  He didn't pick up the win on the scorecard, but that's baseball man.

"I thought James pitched like he's been doing," Lopez stated.  "Vicious game though, isn't it?  He didn't get the win.  I don't know why I do it.  He deserved the win and didn't get it, but he pitched really well for us."

"It feels amazing, it really does," added Farris.  "It feels great."

The senior righty was battling through illness Friday night though, including dry-heaving in the clubhouse during the middle of the game.

"I've been feeling sick lately," he explained.  "I was kind of late coming out because I had to go to the bathroom and I thought I was going to throw up."

"I just tried to ignore it, and after I went to the bathroom and came out I felt better."

The win was the first time Arizona opened a weekend series with a win since Washington State nearly two months ago, and that had obviously been weighing on Farris.

"It's very frustrating for me," he continued.  "Just cuz I expect to go out there and win for my team."

"I'm so glad for our team, and it's a good thing to see.  Sometimes we get down, you can see it on the bench, you can see it in the players.  We're just down on ourselves.  And tonight, there was just something different.  A different atmosphere."

An underrated part of tonight was Willie Calhoun's defense.  Usually he gets replaced in the late-innings by Cody Ramer, but not tonight.  And that decision paid off.

"That was really good to see out of him too," Farris said.  "He was just seeing everything into his glove.  He had sticky hands tonight!  I don't know how to explain it.  That's awesome to see out of him."

"It's something that he's been working on for sure," added Gilbert.  "He's coming along over there."

Saturday's game will start at 6 PM.  You can watch it with us right here.