The Arizona Wildcats celebrate winning the 2024 Pac-12 Championship at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. on May 25, 2024. (Photo by Leif Skodnick/World Baseball Network)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – There were only three Pac-12 Baseball Tournaments in the conference’s history, but the final championship game was one that Arizona Wildcats fans will remember for years to come.
Before a partisan crowd at Scottsdale Stadium, the Wildcats battled back in the final three innings after being no-hit by Southern California starter Caden Aoki for six innings, scoring one run in the seventh and a pair in the eighth before Tommy Splaine lashed a single to left in the bottom of the ninth that sent Emilio Corona in to score the game-winning run from second, giving Arizona a 4-3 win, their eighth of the year coming in the bottom of a final inning, and the final Pac-12 title in baseball.
“I think that just goes back to the constant belief we have in the dugout and each and every one of us. It’s something that doesn’t go away throughout a game,” Corona said of the Wildcats’ uncanny ability to battle back in games this season. “We’re getting no hit through six innings. Everyone in the dugout is picking each other up, picking each other up, and it’s just the culture that we’ve built throughout this year and it’s really paying off.”
For the first six innings, Arizona mustered just one baserunner, when Andrew Cain reached on an error by USC second baseman Ryan Jackson.
An inning later, they found themselves playing from behind.
With one out in the top of the third, USC’s Dean Carpentier was hit by a pitch and advanced to third when Carson Wells’ hot shot to first bounced off the glove of Arizona first baseman Tommy Splaine and into foul territory, giving the Trojans runners at the corners with one out. Ryan Jackson’s long fly ball to deep center got past Arizona’s Brendan Summerhill for a double, scoring Carpentier and giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead.
An inning later, Mason Hedges ripped a one-out triple off the right field wall, and then scored when the next batter, Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek, hit a high fly ball to the right field warning track hit Arizona right fielder Easton Breyfogle’s glove, allowing him to reach third with a triple. Brayden Dowd followed with a double to the right field gap, scoring Martin-Grudzielanek to make it 3-0 USC.
Four innings later is when it all started to change, according to Splaine.
“I’d say right in the seventh when we started to really get into Aoki, I’d say. But we trusted it and we knew it was there. That was really what it was,” he said.
In the bottom of the seventh, Aoki helped his own cause, backing up over the mound and making a great play on Garen Caulfield’s Baltimore chop and firing to first in time to get the out. Mason White followed with a single up the middle, Arizona’s first hit of the night, giving them a baserunner for the first time since the second when Andrew Cain reached on an error. Maddox Mihalakis reached on a dropped third strike that rolled to the front of the third base dugout, allowing White to advance to third.
That ended the night for Aoki, who threw 6.1 innings, allowing one run on one hit, no walks, and striking out eight. Righty Xavier Martinez has come on in relief.
Blake McDonald hit Martinez’ 2-1 pitch to left, deep enough allowing White to score on a sac fly to make it 3-1.
“Aoki had tremendous stuff tonight and obviously was working on short rests so at one point I was like, well maybe he’ll just throw his pitch count and we can get him out of there. But finally we got to him a little bit,” Hale said.
Splaine agreed, saying, “He’s a great pitcher. You just gotta give him credit. He was mixing well. But yeah, I mean, we started to get to him a little bit and stuck to our game plan. And yeah, that was just big for us.”
Splaine led off the eighth for the Wildcats with a single to center. With one out, pinch hitter Richie Morales walked to give Arizona runners at first and second, and as the Arizona fans chanted, “U! Of! A!” Brendan Summerhill singled to center to score Splaine and cut the lead to 3-2, while Morales advanced to third.
Josh Blum came out of the bullpen for Arizona to replace Martinez, and it was deja vu all over again when Garen Caulfield lofted a sac fly to center to score Morales and tie the game.
With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, Blake McDonald lined a one-out single to left and was replaced by pinch runner Emilio Corona, who stole second on the first pitch to Andrew Cain.
Corona was unavailable to play defensively, and had only pinch run twice before during the season.
“I know his time to the plate. I know how fast I can get to second base, and from there it’s just about getting a good enough jump, and after that it’s just trusting that I’m going to get there,” Corona said of the steal of second.
The Trojans elected to walk Cain intentionally, and Splaine singled to left, scoring Corona from second for a 4-3 Arizona victory.
“It’s funny, because Tommy can have some at-bats where there’s strikeouts and he’s not doing much,” said Hale. Splaine had struggled with his batting at times and made multiple changes to his stance and swing over the course of the season. “But it seems like when the game’s on the line, he has his best at-bats.”
After this season, nine of the 11 Pac-12 school that play baseball are decamping for other conferences: Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah are headed to the Big 12; California and Stanford are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference; and UCLA, Oregon, Southern California, and Washington will play in the Big Ten next season.
The loss in the championship game ended the season for USC, which finished the year 75th in the RPI with a record of 31-27.
Arizona won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles, but rank 30th in the RPI as of Sunday, and will have to wait until Monday to see if the seeding committee chooses them to host a regional at Hi-Corbett Field despite their ranking.
For Hale, the celebration won’t last long.
“When I go to bed and wake up, it’ll be a whole new day,” Hale said. “And we’ll worry about what goes on Sunday. And then Monday, figure out who we’re playing and start to do scouting again.”
