Arizona baseball walked off in 12 innings at Grand Canyon for 4th straight loss

PHOENIX—The last time Arizona played at Grand Canyon, in early March on the eve of Pac-12 play, it was in the midst of what would be a 9-game win streak.

What a difference eight weeks makes.

GCU’s Elijiah Buries singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12^th inning, walking off the UA 4-3 on Tuesday night at Brazell Stadium. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Arizona, three of which have come in the opponent’s final at-bat after Oregon State walked off the Wildcats twice during a weekend sweep.

Arizona (23-19) went 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position, striking out six times in that scenario. It left the bases loaded twice, including in the 11^th inning, and stranded 13 runners overall. GCU was just 2 of 11 with runners in scoring position, but that included the walk-off hit against UA right-hander Trevor Long, who went the final 2.2 innings as the last of six Wildcat pitchers.

Until the game-winning hit, Long and four other relievers had combined for 8.1 innings of scoreless relief after Jackson Kent went the first 3.1 innings, giving up three runs and six hits. Freshman Casey Hintz went a career-long 2.1 innings, Eric Orloff got the only batter he faced to end a threat in the sixth and then Dawson Netz threw a clean seventh and TJ Nichols went two-plus before Long finished it out.

GCU (27-19) scored three in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly and a 2-run infield single from Jacob Wilson, a projected first-round MLB pick. But Wilson appeared to hit his head diving for the first base bag and had to leave the game.

Arizona scored twice in the third, the first run coming home on a wild pitch before Chase Davis singled in the other. That was the Wildcats’ only hit with a runner on second or third.

The game stayed 3-2 until Tony Bullard opened the top of the ninth with a line drive solo home run to left. The Wildcats would get two more on that inning, plus one in the 10^th and three in the 11^th, but couldn’t plate another run.

The UA returns home for the next four games, all out of Pac-12 play, starting with a 3-game series Friday at Hi Corbett Field against Air Force.