Arizona Wildcats Baseball
Only the echoes of cheering baseball fans remain inside the spacious confines of Hi Corbett Field on Monday morning. A dust devil gathered steam behind the third base bag and rolled across the infield, lifting and disappearing high above the right field wall.
After three days of action at the 2024 NCAA Tucson Regional, the wrong team, as far as the Arizona fans were concerned, walked away with the title and advanced to the Super Regionals. The winner: the West Virginia Mountaineers, who had traveled 2,100 miles across the country to battle the host team, the Arizona Walk-Off Wildcats, the Antelopes from Grand Canyon University, and the Patriots from Dallas Baptist.
Anticipation was high as baseball aficionados eagerly awaited the first pitch between the Antelopes and the Wildcats on Friday. Many had predicted that the Tucson Regional, one of the 16 regional sites selected for the weekend, would be the most fiercely competitive.
Arizona (36-22) was ambushed again as the Wildcats' in-state rival, Grand Canyon, won 9-4. The Antelopes' pitching staff allowed seven hits, three runs in the second inning, and a lone run in the sixth. Arizona started its ace, Clark Candiotti. He lasted six innings and allowed four hits and five earned runs.
The Wildcats' run in the sixth would turn out to be their last run of the Tucson Regional.
The next day, Arizona lost 7-0 to Dallas Baptist. The Wildcats collected just five hits. They went quietly into the night and were eliminated from postseason play.
West Virginia would beat GCU, 10-6, on Sunday to go 3-0, take the regional, and now head for the Super Regionals to face LSU or North Carolina.
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