Konner Wade finishes off the six-hitter as Arizona beats St. John’s 7-4, wins the Super Regional and earns a berth in the College World Series.
The Wildcats will face the winner of the Florida State-Stanford Super Regional next week — either Friday or Saturday — in Omaha.
Wade needed only 98 pitches to get the complete game, and two of runs were unearned.
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Cats get one in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Field with the bases loaded. He is 5 of 7 with 14 RBIs with the bases loaded. It’s 7-3, three outs to go.
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Konner Wade retires the side in order in the eighth. Three outs away.
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Attendance: 3,907.
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St. John’s turns a leadoff double and two groundouts into a run in the bottom of the seventh. Not too much harm done. Konner Wade is still cruising, with only 70 pitches. This is going to be his to finish. Cats up 6-3, six outs from Omaha.
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Seth Mejias-Brean’s ground-rule double to lead off the seventh spells the end of St. John’s starter Sean Hagan. Reliever James Lomangino, who got the loss in Friday’s game, comes in and gives up an RBI double to Bobby Brown to right. That’s a key run to help turn momentum back toward the Cats.
And here’s another. Riley Moore slaps a hit up the middle to drive in Brown for a 6-2 lead.
The Cats just need nine more outs.
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The Red Storm continues to nibble, fed by another error by second baseman Trent Gilbert. He bobbles a routine grounder by leadoff Kyle Richardson, who reaches on an error. Richardson moves to second on a ground out, to third on a passed ball, and home on another groundout.
That’s a second unearned run allowed by the Cats today, and their lead is down to 4-2 after six innings.
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Arizona has squandered a couple of chances to pad the lead, leaving the bases loaded in the third and stranding two runners in the top of the sixth. Robert Refsnyder strikes out to end the innings, as St. John’s Sean Hagan has done a nice job of keeping his team in the game after he gave up four runs in two innings.
Still, 4-1.
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St. John’s threatens — and reaches the plate — for the first time today, helped by a two-out throwing error by second baseman Trent Gilbert. Zach Lauricella moves Sean O’Hare to third base with a single to center, and the Red Storm score on a single by Danny Bethea.
A fly out to center ends the inning, but the Red Storm has loosened Arizona’s tight grip on the game. It’s 4-1 after five.
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Here’s a tweet from somebody who knows what it takes at the College World Series:
Keep it going #ArizonaBaseball !! 1 more win!! #Omaha #Beardown
— Taryne Mowatt (@tarynemowatt) June 9, 2012
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Alex Mejia is really trying to get back on SportsCenter. In the bottom of the fourth, he lays out to glove a grounder behind second base. While on the ground, he flips to second baseman Trent Gilbert for a force out to start a double play.
After allowing an infield hit to start the inning, Konner Wade has still faced the minimum through four innings.
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Konner Wade perfect through three innings — on only 21 pitches. He has retired seven batters via groundouts.
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This Arizona offense just grinds down pitchers; the Cats are patient and don’t often swing at bad pitchers. No easy outs, one through nine. UA loads the bases in the third on three walks … but Johnny Fields flies harmlessly to center to end the inning.
Still, the Cats have worked starter Sean Hagan for 78 pitches through three.
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Shortstop Alex Mejia made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays — at No. 8 — last night when he snagged a bouncer on the other side of second base and made a quick throw for an out. Today, in the bottom of the second, he goes into the hole to smother a grounder, gets to his feet in record time and sidearms a throw to first for the out.
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One more for the Wildcats in the top of the second. As in the first, Joey Rickard gets things started with a walk (this time with one out) and he comes all the way around on singles by Johnny Field and Alex Mejia.
That stakes Konner Wade to a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the second.
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Konner Wade needs only six pitches to get three outs in the first inning. It took St. John’s Sean Hagan 34.
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Arizona got something cooking in the top of the first inning with the help of catcher’s interference on a play in which Robert Refsnyder appeared to hit into an inning-ending groundout with a runner on second. Instead, Refsnyder was awarded first base, and Seth Mejias-Brean followed with an RBI single to left.
As usual, the Cats just kept on hitting. Bobby Brown made it 2-0 with a single to right. Joseph Maggi hit a high-hopper that shortstop Matt Wessinger couldn’t handle — one of those hard-infield Tucson hits. That drove in Mejias-Brean for a 3-0 lead.
That’s where it stays. A great start for the Cats.
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GOOD LUCK to the ARIZONA WILDCATS baseball …..next step Omaha …..come on guys make a fellow Alumniproud…
— Kenny Lofton (@Kenny_Lofton7) June 9, 2012
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One win away from Omaha.
The Arizona Wildcats are hoping for a big celebration after today’s Super Regional game against St. John’s. Arizona won the first of the best-of-three series in thrilling fashion on Friday. If the Red Storm win, the teams will play again Sunday at 1 p.m.
St. John’s is going with 6-foot-6 left-hander Sean Hagan, who is 8-2 with a 2.72 ERA. He is 5-0 with a 2.23 ERA in his past eight starts. The Red Storm’s starter on Friday, Kyle Hansen, is 6-8. In the final game of last weekend’s regional, Arizona faced Louisville’s 6-8 Jeff Thompson. Sean Miller’s basketball team sometimes didn’t face front lines that big.
Arizona, which will be the visiting team today, counters with its usual Saturday starter — Konner Wade (8-3, 4.69 ERA).
The lineup for the Cats:
1. CF Joey Rickard
2. LF Johnny Field
3. SS Alex Mejia
4. RF Robert Refsnyder
5. 3B Seth Mejias-Brean
6. DH Bobby Brown
7. 1B Joseph Maggi
8. C Riley Moore
9. 2B Trent Gilbert