Pac-12 road skid at 12 after Arizona baseball falls again at Washington State

Arizona has held an early lead in every conference road game this season, including Saturday when it jumped out to a 3-0 margin after one half-inning at Washington State. But once again that wasn’t nearly enough.

The Wildcats lost 11-8 to the Cougars on Saturday afternoon, their 12^th consecutive Pac-12 road loss dating back to last May. They are 1-8 on the road this season, the only win coming at Grand Canyon in early March during a 9-game win streak that seems like a decade ago.

Arizona (17-15, 5-12) plated three runs in the top of the first and finished with 12 hits, its eighth consecutive game with at least 10 hits. But Washington State (21-12, 7-9) also scored three times in the first and then outscored the Wildcats 8-3 between the third and seventh innings.

UA starter Bradon Zastrow allowed nine runs (six earned) and 10 hits in 3.2 innings, giving up hits to five of the first six batters he faced. He was pulled in the middle of WSU’s game-deciding 5-run fourth, which was extended by 2-out a fielding error on third baseman Tony Bullard on which two runs scored and another came in after Dawson Netz relieved Zastrow.

Four Wildcats had two hits including Mason White, whose RBI single in the fourth tied the game at 4. White also had a run-scoring double in the fifth, giving him 14 hits during an 8-game win streak to raise his average to .300 overall and .372 in Pac-12 play.

Fellow freshman Brendan Summerhill homered for the second time in three games and Kiko Romero drove in two runs without a hit to give him a league-best 23 RBI in Pac-12 games.

Arizona will try to avoid being swept for the fourth straight time on the road Sunday at 12 p.m. PT. Right-hander Aiden May is scheduled to start for the Wildcats, who return home for the next five games after the finale in Pullman.