Arizona’s trips to Texas this year have produced varying results. It opened the season with an 0-3 performance at a tournament in Arlington and also lost two of three at Texas Tech last month. But in between was a visit to Houston that showed the true potential of this year’s squad.
“It was a big weekend for us,” catcher Adonys Guzman recalls of a 3-1 performance in Space City at the end of February and beginning of March. “It gave us a little confidence boost, for sure.”
The UA won a midweek game at Rice before taking two of three at the Astros Foundation College Classic, beating Texas A&M and Mississippi State before falling to defending national champion Tennessee. A&M was No. 1 in the country at the time, while MSU was also ranked.
“It was a fun trip, it was electric,” shortstop Mason White said.
That performance came in the middle of a run of 17 wins in 18 games. But as Arizona (34-17, 16-11 Big 12) heads back to Houston for a 3-game series with the Cougars (28-22, 11-15) to wrap up the regular season it is heading in the wrong direction.
The Wildcats lost two of three to last-place Utah at home, dropping four straight overall before winning the home finale, and are 8-7 in their last 15 games. As a result, any chance of hosting an NCAA Tournament regional are gone and projections from D1Baseball and Baseball America actually have the UA as a No. 3 seed in their pods.
The UA is also in danger of having to open next week’s Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday, rather than get a bye into the quarterfinals. It’s tied for 5th place with Kansas State and a game behind Kansas and TCU for 3rd. Arizona owns the tiebreaker over TCU, which finishes at Utah, and if it tied with Kansas—which finishes at conference leader West Virginia—it would also have that tiebreaker.
“If we want to win the Big 12 Tournament, getting in the top four is a huge deal,” UA coach Chip hale said. “I think that extra game is going to be hard, especially with it being on Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we’re kind of acclimating ourselves to the that this week, would be okay with it next week, and then to put another one in front of it would be very difficult. So I think it’s super important.”
Long road ahead
With the Big 12 Tournament in Arlington next week, Arizona is staying in the Lone Star State between the Houston series and the conference tourney. They’ll bus between the cities on Sunday and practice in the Dallas area in the days leading up to the first game, whether it be Wednesday or Thursday.
That means the Wildcats could be on the road for up to 12 days, depending on how long they go in the Big 12 tourney.
“We’re going on the road, and this is the start of the playoffs,” Hale said. “This is just the way we have to play is, we’re playing one game at a time. Gotta try everything we can to win that one game.”
Arizona will come home after the Big 12 tourney and participate in ESPN’s NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show coverage on May 26 before heading back out to its regional destination a couple days later.
The Wildcats are 10-11 away from Hi Corbett Field this season, going 8-7 in true road games including 7-5 on the road in Big 12 play.
Another rotation change
Two weeks after moving Owen Kramkowski into the series-opening starting slot, the man he replaced is out of the rotation. Collin McKinney, who has a 3.88 ERA but 34 walks and 13 hit batters in 51 innings over 13 starts, will not start the middle game.
Instead it will be senior right-hander Raul Garayzar, who has come on in relief of McKinney the last two weekends and kept those games from getting out of hand. For the season Garayzar is 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 43 innings over 17 appearances including four midweek starts.
“I think he’s earned it,” Hale said. “I think he’s shown us he can give us some length.”
Kramkowski had a rough outing in the opener against Utah, allowing seven runs (five earned) in four innings, but Hale called that his “clunker” and noted freshman Smith Bailey had one of his best performances Sunday when he went a career-long six innings and did not walk anyone.
That 6-inning outing was the first by a UA starter since Kramkowski went seven at Texas Tech on April 26. Since then the weekend starters had averaged 3.2 innings before Bailey went six.
Waking up Walton
When Brendan Summerhill missed a month with a broken hand, one of the hitters who stepped up to fill that void was Aaron Walton. The junior centerfielder hit leadoff most games and held his own, and his average was sitting at .357 after hitting a pair of home runs against TCU in a 6-3 win on May 2.
Since then, though, Walton is just 2 for 27 with one extra base hit and no RBI. For the season he’s hitting .318 with 10 homers, 17 doubles and 28 RBI.
“I think he’s kind of figured out some stuff,” Hale said. “He’s such a good athlete that, in time, he’ll work this stuff out.”
Though Hale didn’t cite Walton specifically, he could be dealing with the added scrutiny that comes with his junior year in college. Not on many draft boards entering the season, Baseball America recently ranked him as the No. 231 prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft.
“I think your junior year is very difficult,” Hale said. “I remember going back to when I was in school and the guys who were going to be at the top of the draft, just the pressing of it. I think it does weigh on them a little bit probably. I mean, there’s people every game here, and people calling them and cell phones. They can text them now, how are you feeling? We don’t have any control over that.”
Not seeming bothered by his future is White, who is hitting .480 in May with three homers and 12 RBI (and only five strikeouts) in seven games.
“It got hot out and I love hitting in hot weather,” White said. “It’s a long baseball season, so things come and go, so you try to stay prepared all the time.”
Avoiding Antoine
Houston’s numbers as a team aren’t great. The Cougars are hitting a league-low .224 in Big 12 play and average only 4.4 runs per game, and on the mound they have a 6.34 ERA in conference games.
But there’s one factor that has proven to be the difference between wins and losses for Houston: Antoine Jean appearing in a game. The 6th-year left-hander is a top contender for Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, despite not being a starter, sporting a 4-1 record with five saves and a 2.55 ERA over 19 games.
In 60 innings Jean has struck out 102 batters, including 70 in 41 innings in league play where he has a 1.15 ERA.
Houston is 9-2 when he pitches in a Big 12 game, 2-13 when he doesn’t, and hasn’t appeared in a conference loss since April 12. Eight of his 11 league appearances have been for three or more innings.
“They use them kind of different, it’s different than we’re used to,” Hale said. “It looks like, if they get up, they’re gonna bring them in and let him finish the game. A little bit, I think, like (Cole) Carlon from ASU, where if he’s on a roll, you got to really figure out a way to get him off that roll.”
Carlon, another lefty reliever, struck out 10 over the final 4.1 innings of ASU’s lone win over Arizona this season.
