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It’s been two steps forward, one step back of late for Arizona.
Following a terrible start to the season, the Wildcats showed signs of life by winning two of three in a tournament in Las Vegas only to come home and lose to Grand Canyon. They swept Fresno State last weekend at Hi Corbett Field but then fell at ASU on Tuesday in the unofficial start to Big 12 play.
If that pattern continues, though, it could mean a promising start to the conference schedule. Arizona (6-10) opens league action at Utah on Friday.
Picked by Big 12 coaches to finish second, Arizona has the worst record in the conference through four weeks and at 227 in the RPI has dug itself a huge hole in trying to make a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Here’s what to watch for when the UA visits Utah:
Pitching usage
Arizona’s weekend starting rotation has begun to look the part, with five straight quality starts. Owen Kramkowski was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after throwing seven shutout innings last Friday, adding a career-high 12 strikeouts, then Smith Bailey went six scoreless with a career-best nine Ks the following night. Luc Fladda might have been the most impressive starter this season, though, as the left-hander to walk a batter in 20 innings and has made Sundays much less stressful.
It’s the bullpen, though, where Arizona has concerns. And a decreasing number of available arms.
Already out for the season are Tony Pluta and Nolan Straniero, both of whom have had Tommy John elbow surgery. Texas Tech transfer JT Drake has yet to pitch as he’s coming off an injury, and now sophomore lefty Mason Russell has been shelved with a UCL strain.
The highly touted prospect topped out at 88 mph in his last appearance on March 1 in Las Vegas, a sign of something wrong.
“We haven’t seen the velocity get to where it was when he graduated high school,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “Hopefully doing the rest now, and rehabbing it … we can get him back at the end of the year with throwing harder.”
Hale said Arizona will have three true freshmen pitchers on the travel squad at Utah. Two of those—Benton Hickman and Jack Lafflam—pitched the final two innings of the 10-4 loss at ASU when Hale said he had to make the decision to hold off on using all of his main relievers in order to keep them fresh for the weekend.
Two relievers (lefty Patrick Morris and righty Evan Brandt) have both made eight appearances already and four relievers have thrown at least nine innings.
“You’re starting to see some of their performances go down, and we’re using them a lot,” Hale said.
Hitting situation
Arizona had at least 10 hits in five consecutive games before getting eight at ASU, the longest stretch since 2023. For the season the UA is still hitting just .258 and is striking out 10 times per game, but the numbers are improving.
That’s coincided with more of a set rotation of 12 or so players in the field and in the batting order, a group led by the freshman class. Nate Novitske is hitting .400 and Tony Lira .373, while Cash Brennan, Caleb Danzeisen and Jackson Forbes have all had notable contributions at the plate.
“You’re not resetting, but you’re getting that next group in,” hitting coach Toby DeMello said. “You’ve got to trust your development process with them. Unfortunately, when you’re playing five guys, you’re going to take some of those growing pains at times.”
The turnaround of Maddox Mihalakis may be the most significant recent development. The senior third baseman was hitting .080 (4 for 50) entering the Fresno State series but has eight hits and eight RBI in the last four games and is second on the team with 11 RBI.
DeMello said he was very surprised at the slow starts by Mihalakis and junior Andrew Cain, who is hitting .240, but understands why veterans might have tried to carry a young team that also had to deal with injuries.
“They really tried to put the team on their back, and sometimes that’s not always the best way to go about it,” DeMello said.
The Utes and their new park
Utah christened its new stadium, America First Ballpark, last weekend with a 4-game sweep of Grand Canyon. The 3,200-seat on-campus facility is much cozier than Smith’s Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, where the UA had previously played the Utes in Pac-12 play.
It’s also an all-turf field, including around the plate and on the mound, something Arizona will have to acclimate to during its Thursday practice.
“New turf, sometimes it can be either fast or slow, however they put it in,” Hale said.
Utah (9-5) is hitting .274 and scoring 5.6 runs per game but has just seven home runs (Arizona has 11). It’s the pitching that has carried the Utes, with a 3.78 team ERA and four shutouts, including three against GCU.
Junior righty Colter McAnelly was a First Team Big 12 selection last year and has a 2.70 ERA in four starts. Last season he limited Arizona to three runs over seven innings in Tucson.
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