Jay Johnson ejected as Arizona baseball falls at home to Air Force

Weather and travel issues forced Arizona to swap opponents for Saturday night’s game at Hi Corbett Field, and things only got worse from there.

The UA lost for the second straight night after winning 10 in a row, falling 5-2 to Air Force in a game that saw head coach Jay Johnson get ejected along the way.

Johnson was tossed in the bottom of the sixth inning after arguing about a call at second base on Donta’ Williams’ stolen base attempt. It was part of a strike-em-out-throw-em-double-play with Jacob Blas swinging through on a 3-2 pitch.

Arizona (11-4) scored both its runs in the sixth, on an RBI triple from Tony Bullard and a Williams run-scoring single to trail 3-2. A 1-out double by Daniel Susac started the rally, and before that the Wildcats were being no-hit.

Air Force tacked on two runs in the ninth off the bullpen, while Arizona only managed one more hit over the final three innings.

Starter Garrett Irvin allowed three runs and three hits over 5.2 innings for the loss.

Arizona and Air Force play again Sunday at 2 pm MT. It will be the Wildcats’ final game before opening Pac-12 play Friday at preseason favorite UCLA.