Arizona wasn’t the better team on Friday, but the Wildcats still managed to open the Eugene Regional with a 3-2 win over Cal Poly.
They only tallied two hits, but they were enough to push the Wildcats into the 1-0 game on Saturday.
The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Eugene Regional of the NCAA Tournament got the weekend kicked off with a nail-biter of a pitcher’s duel. Cal Poly outhit Arizona 10-2, but runs are the only stat that matters at the end of the day.
Both squads send their aces to the bump for the regional-opening contest. Cal Poly’s Griffin Vaess looked to get the Mustangs to Saturday’s 1-0 game while Arizona countered with righty Owen Kramkowski.
Casey Murray Jr. opened the top of the second by taking an 0-2 offering from Kramkowski over the wall for a ground-rule double, giving the Mustangs their first runner in scoring position. It would be in vain, however, as Kramkowski struck-out the next three hitters to escape the jam.
The bottom of the Arizona lineup came alive in the bottom of the second to open the scoring. Tommy Splaine recorded a two-out triple to plate a run and give Arizona its first hit. A batter later, Easton Breyfogle launched his fifth homer of the season out to right-center to break open a 3-0 lead.
Cal Poly left the bases loaded in the fourth. The Mustangs had considerably more traffic on the bases in the early goings of Friday’s contest, but stranded seven men on base through the first five frames.
Naess found his groove after the three-run third inning. After allowing the homer to Breyfogle, he retired 14-straight across the second to seventh frames. He finished his day with seven very good innings of three-run, two hit ball. The two extra-base hits from the second would be the extent of the damage done against him. He collected five strikeouts on 106 total pitches. He was far from the reason the Mustangs fell on Friday.
Murray Jr. doubled again to lead off the top of the sixth inning and this time was able to come around to score as Dylan Kordic got the Mustangs on the board with an RBI single.
Kramkowski’s day ended after seven very good innings of work. He allowed just the one run on eight hits while fanning seven and walking one across 99 pitches (67 strikes).
The Arizona defense dazzled behind him all afternoon. Maddox Mihalakis made several impressive plays at third base and Breyfogle made a nice catch on a ball hit over his head in left. Kramkowski even snagged a hard-hit comebacker to end the top of the seventh and keep Arizona ahead by two.
Garrett Hicks took over on the bump for the Wildcats in the eighth, but quickly relented a solo homer to Cam Hoiland. The designated hitter’s fifth blast of the season made it a one-run game.
The Mustangs led the top of the ninth off with a single up the middle, but a game-ending double play sent Cal Poly to the brink of elimination. The Mustangs will play in Saturday’s elimination game against the loser of the Oregon/Utah Valley game, which is set to start at 6:00 p.m.
