The Arizona Wildcats are one win away from clinching the 2016 College World Series title. They defeated the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers by a score of 3-0.
Once more, the Wildcats’ dominate pitching was on display with J.C. Cloney throwing a complete game shutout. Arizona’s ERA throughout the tournament is now an astound 1, having allowed only 6 runs in 54 innings. On the other side of the bump, Zack Hopek pitched 6.1 strong innings, giving up only two earned runs on five hits, striking out five.
Wildcats get offense rolling
Arizona’s offense heated up right from the get-go. On the second pitch of the game, Cody Ramer hit a ground rule double over the left field wall. Two batters later, it was 1-0 Arizona. Zach Gibbons sacrificed Ramer to third and Ryan Aguilar singled to drive Ramer home.
To lead off the third inning, Ramer got on base again, reaching on a single. Gibbons then hit a ball over the third base bag making it to second base, moving Ramer to third. Hopek got out of the inning by sitting down three of the next four Wildcats.
The top of the order continued to cause Hopek fits. In the fifth inning, Ramer walked on five pitches but was forced out at second when Gibbons hit a grounder to the short stop. Then, Aguilar blooped a fly ball to left but Anthony Marks picked it up quickly, threw to second and caught Gibbons napping. Again, Hopek got out of trouble when Zach Remillard made a fantastic catch in foul ground, retiring JJ Matijevic.
Arizona tacks on two more
Two innings later, the Wildcats added two more runs, putting the game out of reach. Cesar Salazar singled to the right fielder and advanced to second on a Louis Boyd sacrifice. With Ramer at the dish, who would eventually walk, Salazar advanced to third on a wild pitch. David Parrett, the Coastal Carolina catcher, could have done a better job blocking the ball. Yes, Parrett got down on one knee to attempt to catch the pitch, but the ball skipped off his glove.
Zach Gibbons hit a ball deep enough to center field which allowed Salazar to score easily from third. On the throw back to the infield, Michael Paez cut the ball off and was unaware of Ramer breaking for the bag. The Wildcats’ right fielder dodged the tag at second in a heads-up play to keep momentum going. If it was not for the smart play on the base path, than Aguilar could not have driven Ramer in to add an insurance run.
Coastal Carolina did not have a very good night at the dish. J.C. Cloney dealt, allowing only four hits throughout the night. The Chanticleers though, tested Cloney a little in the bottom of the eighth inning. Tyler Chadwick lead the inning off with a single. However, the Arizona start set down the next three batters to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the first two Chanticleers reached base on singles. The next batter, Connor Owings grounded out into a massive double play. G.K. Young then struck out looking on what was Cloney’s best pitch of the night, darting a curve ball in on the inside corner.
Coming up
Game 2 of the College World Series Finals starts at 8:00 PM Est at TD Ameritrade Park.