The Arizona baseball team usually plays well against Stanford, and this weekend was no exception.
The Wildcats won their first Pac-10 series of the year by pulling out a 7-6 victory in the finale Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif.
This is the the seventh straight year Arizona has won the Pac-10 series against the Cardinal.
The Wildcats haven’t lost a series to Stanford since 2002, which was UA’s first season under coach Andy Lopez.
Arizona hopes this victory is a jump-start to better things. The Wildcats are 19-20 overall and 5-13 in the Pac-10.
“Hopefully this is a sign of things to come,” Lopez said in a phone interview Sunday.
Arizona’s win pulled the Wildcats out of the Pac-10 basement, as they jumped ahead of Oregon.
UA hosts Arizona State at 3 p.m. Wednesday, but it won’t count as a league game. After that, the Wildcats host California for three games beginning at 7 p.m. Friday.
After getting a pitching gem from Preston Guilmet in an 11-1 Friday victory over Stanford, the Wildcats struggled in losing 3-1 Saturday.
But the bats came alive against Sunday, as UA pounded out 14 hits.
Leadoff batter Bryce Ortega went 2 for 3 with three runs scored, and blasted a home run in the sixth inning to put the Wildcats up 6-3.
In the eighth, Ortega walked and scored on an RBI double by Jett Bandy to put UA up 7-5.
“Ortega, of the older guys, has been very consistent for us and has gotten big hits,” Lopez said. “He is really playing well.”
Freshman outfielder Steve Selsky, starting his first game in left field, went 4 for 5.
Jason Stoffel pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning before retiring the side in the ninth to notch his eighth save.
Cory Burns (1-0) picked up the win by tossing two scoreless innings in relief.
Although Brad Glenn, who went 6 for 8 in the first two games, didn’t get a hit Sunday, he drove in two runs.
His run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fifth handed the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. Kyle Stiner drove in Selsky for a 5-3 lead in the sixth with an RBI single.
“We were getting things done that we haven’t been doing over the last five weeks,” Lopez said. “It was a good weekend for us.”