Bandy
Arizona third baseman Jett Bandy needed some IVs and a lot of Gatorade to feel better after a severe cramp.
His team is doing better as well, as the Wildcats (22-21, 8-13) completed a three-game sweep of visiting California with a 12-8 win Sunday at Sancet Stadium.
UA has moved into eighth place in the Pac-10 by winning five of its past six games.
There are six league games left. Arizona next visits Cal State Fullerton for the start of a two-game nonconference series at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“It is starting to come together,” Bandy said. “We are really loose. At the beginning of the year, I know I felt a little tight, but we are all having fun and are loose out there. We know when to put our game faces on and it is time to play.”
Bandy’s face reflected nothing but pain and agony Friday when he suffered a cramp from his abdomen to his toes following a fifth-inning swing.
The freshman’s body froze up, his left foot went sideways and he couldn’t move after getting just a few feet out of the batter’s box.
“I lifted my leg up and it just cramped,” he said. “I couldn’t get it to straighten back out. I just fell right to the ground.
“My body completely cramped up, my hammies, my thighs, my butt, calves, feet and toes. I tried to walk and I couldn’t walk. I just timbered.”
Bandy, who said he felt his legs cramp up earlier in the game and was starting to drink extra fluids in the dugout, admitted to being a little scared.
Bandy, who leads the Pac-10 in doubles at 18, required a pair of IVs and he said about 20 bottles of Gatorade afterward.
He didn’t play during Arizona’s 8-4 victory on Saturday, but he was back at it in the finale, driving a double to left-center field in the first inning.
Everybody was feeling good after a sweep of the Bears.
“It is a big win for us,” UA coach Andy Lopez said. “We are trying like crazy to get back into this.”
The Wildcats still have a lot of work to do to earn a postseason appearance.
But UA is starting to get better pitching, and the offense is playing well, too, scoring 33 runs against Cal while pounding out 45 hits.
Steve Selsky hit a pair of home runs and went 3 for 4 with three runs scored in Sunday’s win. Bobby Coyle drove in nine runs during the series, including a bases-clearing triple in the sixth inning in the finale to put UA ahead 10-2.
Nobody was hotter than Hunter Pace, who went 8 for 11 at the plate, including a double and a triple.
“I guess I was seeing the ball pretty good. I can’t complain,” Pace said. “I had to make a few minor adjustments. It was a mechanical thing with my timing, being a little off. I had to go back to the basics and it worked.”
Starting pitcher Daniel Workman is giving the Wildcats some help in a problem area much of the season. Workman was steady through six innings Sunday, allowing just two runs and five hits.
“Every time we seem to find our grove we seem to have a setback, but we know we are playing better than we have all season,” Pace said. “It is a matter of being consistent every game and playing sound defense and good pitching. We are starting to build on this.”
———
PAC-10 BASEBALL
Team Conf. Overall
Arizona State 16-4 33-10
UCLA 12-8 21-22
Oregon State 11-7 27-12
Washington State 11-7 22-20
Washington 10-8 21-23
Stanford 10-11 22-19
USC 10-11 22-23
Arizona 8-13 22-21
California 6-15 19-26
Oregon 4-14 14-31