Love's 23 leads Arizona over Utah, 83-66

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Caleb Love scored a game-high 23 points, while Jaden Bradley, Henri Veesaar, and Tobe Awaka chipped in 12 points apiece as #22 Arizona improved to 19-9 overall and 13-4 in the Big 12 Conference tonight at the McKale Center with an 83-66 win over Utah.

Love hit six 3-pointers tonight and dished out seven assists.

Arizona heads for Iowa State (21-7, 11-6) and a Saturday showdown with the 9th-ranked Cyclones.

Way to go, Wildcats.  

Phantom call lifts BYU over Arizona, 96-95

Arizona Wildcats basketball

It may have been the worst call ever by a referee inside the friendly confines of the McKale Center. With  13 seconds remaining, Caleb Love was fouled and sank two free throws to take a 95-94 lead over the Cougars tonight.

Up to that point, Arizona had dished out 23 assists, canned 10 three-pointers, made 54.2 percent of their field goal attempts (32 of 59), received a 27-point effort from Love, and outrebounded the Cougars 36-25, and had five players score in double figures.

What the Wildcats didn't do was take care of the ball. They allowed 22 BYU points off 14 turnovers. Some diehard Arizona fans will say that was the difference, but some. No, many left McKale blaming the men in stripes.

The call occurred after the end-bounds pass, following Love's two tosses at the charity stripe.

The ball found its way into the hands of Richie Saunders with 3.2 seconds left on the clock. The whistle blew, and Saunders went to the line and sank both free throws for the win.

Who was the foul on?

The man in stripes ( I will not name him here) called the foul from 50 feet away.

Trey Townsend was awarded the phantom foul.

Enough said.

Arizona falls to 18-9 and 12-4 in the Big 12 Conference.  

Mal the scorekeeper

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

We lost another Hall-of-Famer and our scorekeeper on February 19, 2025.

"A fixture in our dugout with a brilliant mind and the holder of three degrees -- from the University of New Hampshire, Yale, and the University of Arizona. He will be missed. Rest in Peace, Mal." -- TOTS' historian Dan Price.

The article below is from five years ago, during the heart of the COVID season...

Mal leaves his house every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. His journey isn't far -- just a little over a mile from Udall Park and then a 100-yard walk from the parking lot to the dugout and the home field of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

"I'd rather be playing," said the 83-year-old Mal Zwolinski, a former star player and a legendary hitter for the amateur baseball organization, which is just five games away from completing its 53rd season. "Back issues have kept me from the game."

Over 250 players have worn the blue and white TOTS jerseys since 1968, the first year of the old-timers club, which played not at Udall but at Tucson Himmel Park.

Zwolinski, with the letters "Z" and "W" in his name, is used to being the last entry on a list for anything, especially a baseball roster. Mal is the last man listed on the TOTS' all-time roster, but there it is: Mal Zwolinski, uniform #7, birthdate 10/23/1937, hometown: Winchester, New Hampshire, and a proud TOT since 2006.

Mal took his last swings in 2013, but in 2009, at 71, he played in 62 games, batted 188 times, scored 44 runs, collected 99 hits, and knocked in 64 runs, which calculates to a hefty .527 batting average.

Now, due to COVID-19 precautions, Mal sits alone in the dugout. His teammates have already dragged the field, inserted the bases, and placed his four-legged table (canasta type, good enough usually for four card players to play comfortably) at the north end of the dugout bench.

He's ready for work with a mask on and a couple of trusty pencils in his hand. Now, some of the guys joke with him: "Mal, I'll  give you a dollar for a hit today." Mal has yet to go home with any extra change in his pocket.

It's been a tough time for the world, our country, and our baseball club. 

There have been times during the last few months when the TOTS have been short of players. If that happens, all the equipment, including Mal's scoring table, is put away, and all the players, including Mal Zwolinski, head home.

Mal may be the last name on the roster, but he is the first on the list as a TOTS legend and the club's No. 1 scorekeeper.

Photo: Mal at work

Wildcats survive Waco, edge Baylor, 74-67

 Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Henri Veesaar, in his first start, scored 13 points, had four assists, grabbed five rebounds and two steals, while Tobe Awaka picked up his sixth double-double with 14 points and 12 boards tonight to lead Arizona to a tough road win in Waco over Baylor, 74-67.

The 19th-ranked Wildcats improve to 18-8 overall and 12-3 in the Big 12 Conference. Arizona heads home and prepares for its game on Saturday at McKale Center against the BYU Cougars.

Caleb Love finished the night with 13 points, while Anthony Dell 'Orso played 24 minutes and scored 11 points. Carter Bryant played 26 minutes and filled up the stat sheet with seven points, six rebounds and six assists.

Way to go, Wildcats!

Arizona heads for Baylor with 17-8 record, 11-3 in the Big 12

 Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Can Arizona survive the rest of the season without the three-pointer?

Probably not!

Arizona heads for Baylor Monday with a 17-8 overall record and an 11-3 conference record, good enough for third place in the Big 12.

The Wildcats remain in the top tier of the conference standings despite shooting a dismal 31.3 from long range (168 of 536 attempts). Arizona's all-American shooting guard Caleb Love leads the Wildcats, making just 59 of 196 from three-point range.

Unfortunately, without the three-pointer, the Wildcats will have trouble making it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Case in point: Arizona's 62-58 loss inside the friendly confines of McKale on Saturday to sixth-ranked Houston, the 13th-ranked Wildcats were the best team on the floor for 35 minutes but once again without the ability to toss in the dagger from long range proved costly as the home team clanged 18 of 23 shots off the rim, allowing the Cougars to skip town with a hard-earned win.

Make no mistake about it—Arizona is a very good basketball team. They go eight deep and are very good defensively. But Arizona needs more Love and more threes!

No fun in Manhattan

 Arizona Wildcats Basketball

There was no fun in Manhattan, Kansas, last night.

The Arizona Wildcats had a bad shooting night and too many turnovers, allowing Kansas State to prevail, 73-70.

KJ Lewis led the Wildcats with 15 points, and Caleb Love made only three field goals in 38 minutes. As a result, 13th-ranked Arizona drops to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the Big 12 Conference.

The Wildcats can get back on track, beginning at high noon on Saturday, when Houston invades McKale Center. A win over the Cougars will pull Arizona back into a first-place tie in the conference with 6th-ranked Houston (20-4, 12-1).

My Wildcats have come a long way since the losses in the Bahamas

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

During those final days back in November, the Arizona Wildcats were struggling to say the least.

Arizona lost two of three in the Bahamas, squandered what seemed like a commanding lead in Phoenix in mid-December to the UCLA Bruins, and had to settle as an also-ran in the college basketball standings with a 4-5 record.

And then things changed. The shots began to fall, the big men grabbed rebounds, and the Wildcats were reeling off wins—13 to be exact, 11 in the Big 12 Conference.

Here we are in the second week of February, and Arizona is now ranked 20th in the nation, 17-6 overall, and tied for first place in the Big 12, 11-1, with the Houston Cougars.

Arizona has just one blemish on its record during that stretch, a Big 12 Conference loss at Texas Tech (70-54) while picking up non-conference wins over Samford (96-64), Central Michigan (94-41), and Big 12 wins over TCU (90-81), Cincinnati (72-67), West Virginia (75-56), UCF (88-80), Baylor (81-70), Oklahoma State (92-78), Colorado (78-63), Iowa State (86-75), Arizona State (81-72), BYU (85-74)...and last night's payback win at McKale, an 82-73 victory over Texas Tech.

Against 13th-ranked Texas Tech at McKale, five Wildcats scored in double figures. Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley collected 16 points apiece, Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis chipped in 15, and Tobe Awaka recorded another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Way to go, Wildcats!

Of course, it doesn't get any easier. Next:  at Kansas State (12-11, 6-6) on Tuesday, Feb. 11, and back home at McKale against Houston (19-4, 11-1) on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Go get 'em, Arizona! 

Youngster tops TOTS January batting stats

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

A 62-year-old led the Tucson Old Timers in January as the TOTS' 2025 season is officially underway.

Martin Pelger, a retired pharmacist from Globe, Arizona, was the top hitter for the month with 23 hits in 40 trips to the plate for a .575 batting average. The young man also led the club in RBI with 15.

To put things into perspective, Pelger was born in 1962, and two of the super senior players on the TOTS' current roster graduated from high school in 1955 and 1963!

Mike Dawson, 69, finished second in hitting for the month with 21 hits in 39 at-bats, a .538 clip, while Joe Opocensky and Tim Tolson ended up third and fourth, respectively. Opocensky batted .476 (20 for 42), and Tolson finished 20 for 36, a .556 average.

Mike Steele, 77, led the super seniors (75-and-over) with 14 hits in 35 at-bats, a .400 average. 

Dawson and Glen Vann led the TOTS pitching stats. Dawson hurled the most innings (38), and Vann logged 32 innings. Both pitchers finished the month with 2-2 won/loss records and struck out 10 batters. Pelger pitched 26 innings, pitched in four games, and finished 2-1.

The TOTS combined 274 hits in 681 at-bats as a club for a .402 batting average.

Way to go, TOTS!

 

Thunder Tim rolls in 2024

Thunder Tim Tolson lived up to his nickname in 2024, as the hard-hitting lefty led the way in almost every offensive category for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

Tolson played in 115 games and batted 365 times while maintaining a .550 batting average with 203 hits. He also led the TOTS in runs-batted-in with 143.

Joe Opocensky, Jon Beady, and Randy Livingston were also tough outs in 2024.

Opocensky played in 106 games and batted .560 with 190 hits in 339 official at-bats. He scored 95 runs and collected 115 RBI, while Beady led the club in home runs (7) and runs scored (120) while maintaining a .568 batting average with 155 hits in 268 at-bats. Livingston led the club in doubles with 36 while finishing third in hits with 153 in just 252 at-bats for a hefty .607 batting average. 

Livingston also led the TOTS pitching staff with a  24-19 record. He struck out 107 batters, walked 100 in 308 innings, and pitched in 46 games.

For the super seniors (players over the age of 75), David Byars led the way in 2024 with 117 hits in 341 at-bats, a .343 average in 111 games.

 

Way to go, TOTS!

And now it's on to 2025...

Tucson Old Timers Baseball
Final 2024 Stats after 123 games
FIRST	LAST	GAMES	AB	RUN	HIT	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SAC	HBP	AVG	OBP	SLG
Arnie	White	36	90	6	11	0	0	0	5	7	0	0	0.122	0.186	0.122
Bill	Mishler	86	49	8	7	0	0	0	6	8	2	1	0.143	0.276	0.143
Bob	Daliege	101	172	35	65	1	0	0	23	6	0	0	0.378	0.399	0.384
Bob	Lockwood	13	35	5	7	0	0	0	6	1	0	0	0.200	0.222	0.200
Bob	Royer	30+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bobby	Long	88	248	52	94	12	0	0	47	20	1	6	0.379	0.438	0.427
Brack	Whitaker	108	277	20	34	0	0	0	14	8	0	1	0.123	0.150	0.123
Carl	Schwanbeck	55	14	1	3	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	0.214	0.421	0.214
Danny	Price	84	231	16	59	0	0	0	28	6	3	2	0.255	0.280	0.255
Dave	Byars	111	341	30	117	4	0	0	78	11	0	0	0.343	0.364	0.355
Dave	Musavi	4	11	3	4	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	0.364	0.462	0.455
Dennis	Crowley	43	118	23	49	0	0	0	17	10	0	0	0.415	0.461	0.415
Ernesto	Escala	68	196	28	97	7	0	0	72	12	0	0	0.495	0.524	0.531
Gary	Cuttler	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Glen	Vann	20	60	15	30	2	0	0	21	4	0	0	0.500	0.531	0.533
Gregg	McKeegan	3	8	1	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.375	0.444	0.500
Guy	French	57	157	43	55	4	0	0	19	20	1	0	0.350	0.424	0.376
Herb	McReynolds	30	73	12	24	1	0	0	12	11	2	0	0.329	0.417	0.342
J. B.	Bulawin	90	279	61	113	13	0	0	37	13	0	0	0.405	0.432	0.452
Jerry	Callen	95	243	23	51	0	0	0	28	19	0	0	0.210	0.267	0.210
Jesse	Ochoa	79	210	20	70	0	0	0	31	16	0	1	0.333	0.383	0.333
Jimmy	Kinion	25	70	7	19	0	0	0	15	2	0	0	0.271	0.292	0.271
Joe	Opocensky	106	339	95	190	28	0	0	115	18	1	4	0.560	0.587	0.643
John	Cooke	24	64	24	29	2	0	0	7	7	0	0	0.453	0.507	0.484
John	Jarboe	5	18	4	7	2	0	0	3	0	0	0	0.389	0.389	0.500
John	Mathews	67	183	53	92	13	0	0	61	20	1	1	0.503	0.554	0.574
John	Misiaszek	46	138	24	47	4	0	0	27	9	1	0	0.341	0.381	0.370
Jon	Beady	105	268	120	155	33	3	7	91	46	3	6	0.578	0.647	0.802
Ken	Nebesny	101	269	46	95	0	0	0	50	25	0	0	0.353	0.408	0.353
Mark	Walton	4	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0.000	0.100	0.000
Mark	Rupert	62	100	19	29	0	0	0	13	7	0	0	0.290	0.336	0.290
Marty	Pelger	65	213	65	94	10	0	0	34	8	0	0	0.441	0.462	0.488
Mike	Dawson	90	243	79	104	12	0	0	43	17	0	2	0.428	0.469	0.477
Mike	Steele	93	197	44	68	4	0	0	18	21	3	1	0.345	0.411	0.365
Pete	Maldonado	56	49	11	6	0	0	0	1	6	1	0	0.122	0.218	0.122
Pete	Peters	100	21	5	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0.143	0.217	0.143
Phil	Ahern	59	193	47	85	13	0	0	30	8	0	0	0.440	0.463	0.508
Randy	Livingston	82	252	113	153	36	0	0	72	16	4	0	0.607	0.631	0.750
Reed	Palmer	63	169	36	92	19	1	1	88	34	2	1	0.544	0.623	0.686
Rick	Bitzer	28	75	8	15	0	0	0	12	8	0	0	0.200	0.277	0.200
Roger	Beebe	48	137	27	36	2	0	0	7	10	0	0	0.263	0.313	0.277
Ron	Ryan	49	147	18	60	5	0	0	35	4	1	1	0.408	0.428	0.442
Sam	Dean	58	185	45	89	7	0	0	37	8	0	2	0.481	0.508	0.519
Spiro	Roberts	16	36	7	17	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0.472	0.472	0.472
Steve	Karthas	38	96	7	28	0	0	0	9	8	0	0	0.292	0.346	0.292
Steve	Parks	99	203	17	41	0	0	0	18	25	3	2	0.202	0.296	0.202
Ted	Roberts	105	148	7	21	1	0	0	14	14	2	0	0.142	0.216	0.149
Tim	Tolson	115	369	86	203	26	0	0	143	19	0	3	0.550	0.575	0.621
Jacob	Callen	3	9	1	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.444	0.444	0.778
Zack	Callen	5	13	4	7	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0.538	0.538	0.769
	TOTs TOTALS:		7025	1421	2682	264	5	9	1398	523	32	34	0.382	0.427	0.425
			AB	RUN	HIT	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SAC	HBP	AVG	OBP	SLG
Tucson Old Timers Baseball
December 2024 Pitching Statistics
FIRST	LAST	Games		INN	RUNS	HITS	SO	BB	W	L	S		RA/7	BAA	WHIP
Bob	Daliege	32		177	153	277	30	92	12	14	0		6.1	0.343	2.08
Ernesto	Escala	17		91	73	132	26	57	4	12	0		5.6	0.326	2.08
Danny	Price	1		3	6	5	1	6	0	1	0
Dennis	Crowley	1		1	3	0	1	5	0	0	0		21.0	0.000	5.00
Mark	Rupert	8		44	52	84	10	28	1	4	0		8.3	0.389	2.55
Glen	Vann	14		67	46	70	34	27	8	3	0		4.8	0.258	1.45
Jerry	Callen	2		11	17	19	1	4	0	1	0		10.8	0.365	2.09
Joe	Opocensky	42		268	253	483	71	65	18	21	0		6.6	0.375	2.04
John	Mathews	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Jon	Beady	15		63	45	83	39	19	5	5	0		5.0	0.305	1.62
Martin	Pelger	22		103	95	179	23	28	8	6	1		6.5	0.367	2.01
Mike	Dawson	34		214	196	402	52	25	13	20	0		6.4	0.385	2.00
Pete	Maldonado	16		96	67	168	14	18	7	4	0		4.9	0.368	1.94
Randy	Livingston	46		308	259	446	107	100	24	19	0		5.9	0.326	1.77
Reed	Palmer	25		161	130	275	53	26	15	5	0		5.7	0.363	1.87
	++			1607	1395	2623	462	500	115	115	1		6.1	0.352	1.94
				INN	RUNS	HITS	SO	BB	W	L	S		RA/7	BAA	WHIP
RA/7 =(RUNS/INN)*7
BAA =HITS/((INN*3)+(HITS)
WHIP =(HITS+BB)/INN