Here is a story from our Gannett partner, the Arizona Republic, from Friday night’s Arizona-Arizona State baseball game…

Arizona designated hitter Jordan Berger slides back safe to first base as ASU first baseman Dalton Dinatale tries to apply the tag. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky/azcentral sports

By Jeff Metcalfe
azcentral sports

TEMPE — The defending national champion Arizona baseball team showed up Friday night at Packard Stadium, more so than the struggling Wildcats who dropped six of their preceding seven games.

Playing for its postseason life, UA broke on top 9-0 in the first 2 1/2 innings against No. 15 Arizona State then hung on to win 10-7 behind junior right-hander Konner Wade.

Wade (5-6) of Scottsdale was back as the Game 1 weekend starter after being dropped to the No. 2 spot last week. He pitched close enough to his 2012 postseason form (4-0, 1.29 ERA) to prevent ASU from completing the kind of comeback it managed Wednesday in rallying from five runs down to beat Texas Tech 8-5.

But it took a diving catch in deep center by Johnny Field to preserve the victory. Nathaniel Causey drilled a 2-2 pitch by Matthew Troupe with the bases loaded that Field pulled in at the warning track to prevent the tying runs from scoring.

ASU also brought the tying run to the plate with no outs in the ninth but failed to score off Tyler Crawford, who picked up his first save.

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Konner Wade allowed only one hit in the season opener. 2012 photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Arizona baseball coach Andy Lopez had an intriguing choice for his first major in-game dilemma of the season.

The Wildcats’ starting pitcher, Konner Wade, was throwing a no-hitter through six innings Friday night, but he also was getting near his pitch limit as he went out for the seventh inning.

It’s a long season; there was no need for Lopez to push Wade too hard in what ended up being a 16-0 win over Coppin State at Hi Corbett Field. On the other hand, Lopez was willing to bend the pitch count if Wade kept pitching clean.

“I wouldn’t have let him go to 140 pitches,” Lopez said.

“In my mind, I was thinking, he can get this done with 105, 110 max. That’s not too bad. He’s a junior. He’s pitched a lot. I told my staff, ‘I’m not getting him.’”

The situation resolved itself before Lopez had to worry too much.

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Konner Wade is the new ace of Arizona’s staff. Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

The last time we saw Arizona right-hander Konner Wade in a game, he was completing one of the most dominant postseason runs in the history of college baseball.

Now, he has a new pitch.

Wade, a junior, takes the ball tonight for Arizona in its season-opener at Hi Corbett Field. There will be a pregame ceremony to recognize the 2012 College World Series champs, and then Wade and the Wildcats will turn the page by starting 2013 against Coppin State.

Wade rode his sinking fastball to a remarkable postseason — a 4-0 record with a 1.29 ERA and three complete games, walking just three in 35.0 innings. He allowed a mere 27 hits in that span — 24 of them singles.

That fastball was death to right-handed batters, as the pitch dove down and inside, inducing misses or weak ground balls to an unerring left side of the infield.

This season, Wade is hoping to mix in an effective cutter that will tail away from righties and make use of the outside of the plate.

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This was the 2012 team’s moment. Photo by Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

After the dogpile at the mound, after posing with the national championship trophy, after generally whooping it up, the Arizona baseball team gathered in the clubhouse at TD Ameritrade Park.

It was about an hour after the Wildcats had defeated South Carolina 4-1 to win the College World Series in Omaha. Coach Andy Lopez addressed the joyous group.

He recalled the conversation earlier this week …

“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been fortunate. I’ve won two national championships. They’re great moments. They’re moments you’ll remember the rest of your life. Every time you hear of the 2012 season, it will ring, ‘Boy, we won it all that year.’

“But that’s what it is: A moment. It’s a moment. It’s not your identity; it’s not who you are as a human being. You’re a human being and you had a great moment. With that said, everybody has work to do to improve in everything that they do — being a good person, a good husband, a good brother, a good son, a better baseball player.”

Which brings us to 2013.

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Konner Wade reacts to the final out as Arizona beat South Carolina 5-1 in the first game of the College World Series championship series. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Konner Wade’s superb June has carried over into July.

Wade, the Arizona right-hander who was 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA in four postseason starts as the Wildcats won the College World Series, has a sub 1.00 ERA in the prestigious Cape Cod summer league.

Wade has allowed one run in 9.2 innings over five relief appearances for the Wareham Gatemen of the wood-bat league. He has yielded six hits, striking out two and walking two.

Wade skipped a chance to workout at Fenway Park on Wednesday for the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Scout Day.

“We’re trying to take it easy on Konner,” Wareham coach Cooper Farris said in a story by GateHouse News Service. “He pitched a lot of innings and he’s been seen plenty by scouts. The book’s already out on him so he doesn’t necessarily need it as much as others.”

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Seth Mejias-Brean played slick defense for Arizona during its national championship season. Photo by Matt Ryerson-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona Wildcats third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean made his minor-league debut on Thursday night with the Billings Mustangs.

He batted seventh and went 0-for-3 with a walk for the Mustangs, a rookie-ball affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, who selected Mejias-Brean in the eighth round of last month’s draft.

Shortstop Alex Mejia, who was the first of five Wildcats to be selected in the draft, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and has been assigned to the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. Mejia, who won Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, was a fourth-round pick.

Undrafted outfielder Bobby Brown signed with the Kansas City Royals organization and assigned to Burlington in rookie ball.

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Trent Gilbert tagged out Florida State's Sherman Johnson at second base in the first inning of a game at the College World Series. Photo by Matt Ryerson-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats second baseman Trent Gilbert, who hit .303 in the postseason and drove in three runs in the College World Series-clinching victory, made his Cape Cod Baseball League debut Monday night.

Gilbert, playing for the Bourne Braves, walked and scored a run in a pinch-hit appearance, staying in the game to play shortstop.

Gilbert capped his freshman season at UA by driving in three runs, including a two-run hit in the ninth inning, as the Cats beat South Carolina 4-1 to win the national championship. He also made a diving catch of a line drive in the bottom of the ninth.

Three other Cats are participating in the wood-bat Cape Cod League — which is the top annual summer event for collegiate players — and should soon make their debuts.

Starting pitcher James Farris and reliever Mat Troupe, who combined on a three-hitter in the final victory over South Carolina, will pitch for the Orleans Firebirds. Farris went 7 2/3 innings vs. the Gamecocks, with Troupe picking up the win in relief. Farris said they will be roommates this summer.

Starting pitcher Konner Wade, whose postseason effort was one of the grandest in school history, will play for the Wareham Gateman. Wade was 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA in four postseason starts. He allowed 27 hits and walked only three in 35 innings, throwing three complete games.

Outfielder Johnny Field was also slated to play for the Wareham Gateman, but he was selected for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. The team will play in Cuba and The Netherlands later this month.

Konner Wade reacts to the final out as Arizona beat South Carolina 5-1. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Arizona Wildcats sophomore Konner Wade couldn’t throw strikes in preseason camp. His pitches had too much tailing action. He couldn’t control them. Andy Lopez didn’t know what he was going to do with him.

Hard to believe Wade was ever that guy.

Putting his name among the best ever on the game’s biggest stage, Wade pitched his second consecutive complete game at the College World Series on Sunday night, throwing a six-hitter as Arizona defeated South Carolina 5-1 in Omaha.

“You really are very thankful when a young guy gets better as the season goes on, which is what he’s done,” Lopez said in his postgame interview.

“I mean, there’s a couple days early in the season where you would have never said this would be occurring right now.”

It is … and the Wildcats are one win away from their fourth national championship.

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Only a few minutes after Arizona Wildcats sophomore Konner Wade pitched the game of his life last Saturday, coach Andy Lopez brought up one of Wade’s worst performances.

Something about throwing 20 balls in 22 pitches in an outing earlier this season.

That would have been a mid-week relief appearance against New Mexico State on March 21. The strike zone might as well have been a pinhole, as Wade walked four and hit two batters, allowing four runs in one inning.

And this was the same guy who pitched a complete game — with no walks — to clinch last weekend’s Super Regional against St. John’s.

“It’s exactly what you hope for from your children — that they get through the tough times; they grow,” Lopez said.

“That they understand adversity. That they understand that life isn’t fair, and that whoever told you that lied to you. because it’s not fair. It’s a grind, it’s a grind, it’s a grind.”

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