From the first pitch at Hi Corbett the plan was for a season like this.
Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

They say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. The point being, we have no idea what the future holds so to make grandiose plans and assume everything will go exactly how we want is an exercise in futility.

But sometimes – every once in a while – a plan works perfectly. Exhibit A: the 2012 Arizona Wildcats baseball season.

I can’t even plan a Saturday. I’ll get to the end of a week with a mountain of tasks to complete so I’ll start a list:

1. Wake up
2. Exercise

And that’s about as far as I get before the plan is shot.

UA athletic director Greg Byrne had a plan. Head coach Andy Lopez had a plan. Their to-do list for the 2011-2012 season looked like this:

1. Negotiate use of Hi Corbett Field
2. Create buzz with announcement
3. Address concerns of dissenters (including Hall of Fame former coaches)
4. Enhance game day experience
5. Win lots of games
6. Win Pac-12 championship
7. Host Regional
8. Host Super Regional
9. Go to College World Series

And they pulled it off. Every last bit of it.

Lopez was quick to point to the change in venue as the key element in this magical run. “I don’t believe we could have done what we’re doing,” he said, “unless we’re at Hi Corbett with that kind of crowd.”

“I can’t thank Greg Byrne and the administration enough for moving us here.”

It takes courage to uproot decades of tradition to aim for something bigger. It takes the timing of an experienced team primed for a peak season. It takes an alignment of circumstances like spring training leaving Tucson, Arizona State going on probation, Oregon faltering the final weekend and North Carolina getting upset by St. John’s.

No matter how much help you get, however, you still need to execute on the field. Big crowds don’t ensure you get the bunt down in a tight game. Playing at home doesn’t guarantee throwing strikes or producing two-out RBIs.

No moment sums it up better than the double play in the ninth inning of Saturday’s game. St. John’s had two men on with nobody out and the tying run on deck. Konner Wade threw a low strike to the Red Storm’s best hitter, Jeremy Baltz, who grounded sharply to third base. Seth Mejias-Brean fielded it cleanly and didn’t hesitate in making an accurate throw to second. Trent Gilbert made the pivot, defensive replacement Brandon Dixon made the catch at first and the bases were empty with disaster averted.

“I was just playing one pitch at a time, trying to go through it in my head, if the ball’s hit to me make the easy play and turn two,” Mejias-Brean said. “I didn’t really think too much how big of a play it was.”

That kind of calm execution got the Wildcats through what Lopez called the grind of the regular season and early rounds of the tournament, and it should serve them well during the reward that is the College World Series.

The UA coach likes his team’s chances in Omaha. “The goal once we get there will be to stay around for two weeks,” Lopez said. “We’ll try to stick around a couple weeks for sure.”

You won’t see me laughing at that plan.

* * *

Bonus quotes from the celebratory Super Regional press conference:

Andy Lopez

On coming up just short in the College Station Regional last year
“I told my wife if we can get to the right regional we got a chance this year. And, boy, we were in the right regional: Tucson.”

On why this CWS run is special to him
“I’ve had two sons go with me to Omaha three, four times now as batboys and now… I’ve got to get them to shave. They’ve got full beards and they’re going to be a part of a college program in the College World Series so that’s pretty neat.”

On his team’s chances
“I like them for two real intangible reasons: One is they like to compete. The guys I suit up with like to compete. And two is…uh…they like to compete.”

On fifth-year senior Bobby Brown’s experience
“Bobby, you’ve been here since… How was it playing for Coach Sancet?”

On destiny and pachyderms
“I told them the story (about) when I was in L.A. and a man got crushed by an elephant in Culver City. Those of you that know L.A., it’s Culver City. How does an elephant crush a man in Culver City?! If it’s supposed to happen it’s going to happen. You just have to work hard and get after it.”

Konner Wade

When asked if he remembered throwing a no-walks complete game before
(Pause)
(More pause)
“No.”

(By the way, if you would have told me before the Tucson Super Regional that Wade was going to give up 11 fewer hits than Kurt Heyer I would’ve said you were crazy.)

(Then I would’ve said, “Wait, you mean Wade is going to throw a negative-four-hitter??”)

Seth Mejias-Brean

On getting to Omaha with his classmates
“I’m really close with this junior class. We deserve it. We’ve worked hard. We’ve worked all three years and it’s going to be fun up there.”

On choosing baseball over football out of high school
“College football would’ve been a lot more work.”

Lopez: “What?! We’ll work on that on Monday.”

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Scott Terrell plans on watching this team as long as possible. Plan on following along on Twitter and Facebook.

Kurt Heyer against St. John’s, most likely giving up a hit. J&L Photo

To win a Super Regional game in the college baseball tournament you need star players to rise to the occasion. You need guys to do amazing things, even things never before seen.

Kurt Heyer was incredible for the Arizona Wildcats against St. John’s Friday afternoon. It just so happens his numbers were incredibly bad.

I’m still not sure what was the most unbelievable part of the opening game of the Tucson Super Regional: Heyer giving up 17 hits; Heyer lasting long enough to give up 17 hits; Heyer giving up 17 hits and Arizona winning.

After the Wildcat junior was practically dragged off the mound with one out in the top of the 10th inning, Mathew Troupe came in and promptly gave up another hit – ¡dieciocho! – only to have Johnny Field throw out the Red Storm’s Sean O’Hare at home. Yes, even the Cats’ biggest outs were recorded on base hits.

“Eighteen hits and losing a ballgame’s kinda tough,” St. John’s head coach Ed Blankmeyer said.

You bet it’s tough. It only took the Wildcats 15 hits to score 16 runs in the regional-clinching win over Louisville last Sunday.

Anyone can throw a no-hitter. Apparently you just throw half a dozen pitchers together and it happens. But 18 hits, with 17 off of one guy?

Heyer’s stat line doesn’t have WHIP appeal but it was enough for a crucial UA victory. Somehow, someway the Arizona ace found a way to scatter 17 hits. See for yourself:

St. John’s hits and runs per inning

“What (Heyer) did after the fourth inning is unbelievably impressive,” Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. “Pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch. Zero after zero after zero…”

And hit after hit after hit. If allowing zero hits in nine innings is a no-no, Heyer just threw a yes-yes.

“He kept us in the ballgame,” Lopez continued. “He gave our offense a chance to get back in it. Great job by Heyer.”

The greatest 17-hitter of all time.

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Scott Terrell will be at Hi Corbett, waiting for the next dose of incredible. Follow the action on Twitter and stay connected on Facebook.

Seth Mejias-Brean and the Cats are hoping to run all the way to Omaha.
Photo by Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

Five Pac-12 teams made the 2012 NCAA baseball tournament and four of them remain. Three from the conference have yet to leave home.

Two teams meet today at high noon at Hi Corbett Field to begin a best-of-three super regional but only one squad will leave Tucson with a ticket to Omaha and the College World Series.

This Week in the Pac-12 (TWIT-Pac) is happy to have so many teams left to talk about. All times are Arizona/Pacific and all game threes are if necessary.

#3 St. John’s (40-21) at #1 ARIZONA (41-17)
Fri 12 p.m.
Sat 12 p.m.
Sun 1 p.m.
TV: ESPN2

If you go by the Major League Baseball draft, the best hitter and two best pitchers on the field will be members of the Red Storm. St. John’s Jeremy Baltz was selected in the second round (two rounds ahead of Arizona’s Alex Mejia) and pitchers Matt Carasiti and Kyle Hansen were both taken a few slots ahead of the UA’s Kurt Heyer in the sixth round.

#2 TCU (40-20) at #1 UCLA (45-14)
Fri 6 p.m.
Sat 6 p.m.
Sun 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN (Fri), ESPN2 (Sat, Sun)

The Bruins are the hottest team in the Pac-12, having won seven straight and 14 of 15. Maybe giving up those 10 runs in the ninth against Purdue was the best thing that could’ve happened to them.

#3 Kent St. (44-17) at #1 Oregon (45-17)
Sat 8 p.m.
Sun 7 p.m.
Mon 4 p.m.
TV: ESPNU

Oregon’s final-weekend struggles carried over into the first game of their regional when they needed a ninth-inning rally and some umpiring fortune to beat Austin Peay. But they don’t award style points in baseball, the Ducks got their sweep and are now just two wins away from their second College World Series appearance ever and first since 1954.

#1 Stanford (41-16) at #1 Florida St. (46-15)
Fri 4 p.m.
Sat 3 p.m.
Sun 4 p.m.
TV: ESPN2

Unlike its Pac-12 brethren the Cardinal got no bracket help and will have to travel to Tallahassee, Florida, to face the No. 3 national seed. The Seminoles only gave up four runs in their regional sweep while Stanford needed to beat Pepperdine by a run twice.

* * *

Half the remaining teams in the tournament are from either the Pac-12 or SEC, yet the two conferences don’t meet at all in the super regional round. It is possible the entire College World Series field could be made up of the SEC (Florida, South Carolina, LSU, Arkansas) and the Pac-12. Both conferences have three of their participants hosting this weekend.

Last week we said it would be disappointing if the Pac didn’t get two teams to Omaha. After the regional events two is the bare minimum and the league should get greedy. Not only are three Pac-12 teams playing at home but none of the hosting trio is facing another 1-seed. Yes, every team you face at this stage in the postseason is really good but you have to take advantage of situations like this when they present themselves.

That’s the theme for Arizona: opportunity, and making the most of it. After 20 years in between hosting regionals and a first super regional at home in the 14-year history of the format, there are no guarantees everything will line up like this again anytime soon.

On top of that, this is definitely the final home series the Wildcats’ recently-drafted “Fab Five” will spend together as a unit. This is the moment these juniors have been pointing to since the start of the season. It’s what the program has been building toward for three years.

The trick is to keep that extreme sense of urgency from becoming excessive pressure.

By winning three straight and getting strong starting pitching last week, the UA’s Andy Lopez was able to mask his team’s biggest weakness (bullpen? What bullpen?). Now, with no more than three games this week he can be as creative as he needs to be if any of his starters falter. Tyler Crawford, Tyler Hale and Mathew Troupe don’t have to be reserved as extra starters. Stephen Manthei is completely rested, having only appeared in one game in the past month.

The best way to help any pitching staff is to put runs on the board and the Cats would be best served by duplicating last week’s strategy: get on base, bunt, and string line drives together.

St. John’s lost the last two series of the regular season – including one against Louisville – to drop into a tie for the Big East regular season championship. SJU bounced back to win the Big East tournament before the very impressive sweep of the Chapel Hill Regional.

The entire Red Storm starting pitching rotation was drafted this week. They’re experienced and battle-tested as they prepare to face Arizona’s hot bats in the hot sun.

Opportunity arrives at 105 degrees.

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Scott Terrell will keep you up to date on the Tucson Super Regional on Twitter and you will “Like” what you see on Facebook.