Citizen Staff Writer
UA BASEBALL
KEN BRAZZLE
kbrazzle@tucsoncitizen.com
Normally, five runs on a Friday night, plus playing at home, would be good enough for the University of Arizona baseball team.
But it wasn’t nearly enough against No. 12 Georgia.
The Bulldogs scored three runs in the fifth inning and four in the eighth to defeat Arizona 11-5 in the first game of a three-game series on Friday night.
The teams play at 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Sancet Stadium.
“If you get five runs on a Friday night, you should feel good,” said Arizona coach Andy Lopez. “Obviously, we didn’t play very well. We didn’t get a real good starting performance and didn’t get a good bullpen performance. We didn’t give our offense a chance to really get going.”
Arizona’s five pitchers combined to allow eight walks.
Preston Guilmet (0-1) started for Arizona (4-2) and lasted 4 1/2 innings. He yielded seven hits and five runs while walking three.
“There is really no excuse,” Guilmet said. “I really don’t know what it was. I couldn’t locate my fastball.”
Three of the walked hitters scored for Georgia (6-0).
“Pitching is what we didn’t do a very good job of,” Lopez said. “We didn’t get good starting pitching out of Preston. Eight walks. That’s not good pitching. That’s below-average pitching. We got to get our pitching squared away.”
Arizona pulled to within a run at 5-4 thanks to two runs in the bottom of the fifth. But the Wildcats were hurt by their No. 6 through No. 9 hitters going a combined 0 for 15.
“We’re running a lot of young guys out there,” Lopez said. “You have to have a plan and get them ready to play the right guys.
“We feel like we have a plan . . . Now it’s finding the right guys. The only way you find the right guys is in a game like this.
“We had some spots in the lineup that emptied out. That’s the situation. They got to get better. We anticipate them getting better.”
Rafael Valenzuela and Bobby Coyle each had three hits for UA. Coyle homered and had two RBIs.
• Box score, 5C
UA BASEBALL
No. 12 Georgia at Arizona, 6 p.m. Saturday; noon Sunday at Sancet Stadium