For the first time since 1994, the Frogs are 9-0 to start the season after a 6-1 win over the Wildcats.
Starting pitcher Braedon Sloan was untouchable, tallying 13 strikeouts in six shutout innings.
“He threw about 90 mph the whole night, he wasn’t trying to run it up there,” said head coach Kirk Saarloos. “He pitched extremely well, moving the fastball in and out and utilizing both breaking balls.”
He set the tone early, retiring the first seven batters in order, six of them via the strikeout. After a single and a hit batter, he retired the next five in order, all by strikeout.
“When you wake up and it’s a north wind, you think it’s gonna play a little more offensive, it tells you how good Sloan was,” said Saarloos.
Sloan didn’t let that be a factor, taking care of most of his opponents without contact.
“I tried to stay pitch-to-pitch and focused, but it was surprising,” said Sloan. “I haven’t had many games like that.”
The most important part about Sloan’s outing was the ability to give the bullpen a rest after the staff threw almost 250 pitches in the game against Washington State. There may have been some pressure, but he wasn’t feeling it.
“There’s always nervousness before a game, but knowing I got guys that are swinging, can put runs up and defenders that back me up makes it a lot easier,” said Sloan.
Other than a single run given up by Chase Hoover in the eight, the bullpen came in and shut down the Arizona offense. Hoover, Andrew Mosiello and Hunter Hodges combined for 2 innings, giving up three hits and one run to set up the ninth.
Saarloos said it’s pretty rare that guys pitch on back-to-back days, so it was important that three pitchers did that in this two-game stint.
To finish off the game, Saarloos went with his closer that gave up the lead the night before, Ben Abeldt.
Sloan also had confidence in the bullpen. He knew when he came off the mound he was going to have some strong arms come in behind him.
“We’re deep this year,” said Sloan. “Each guy that gets the ball this year, he’s a stud.”
Other than a harmless walk, the Wildcats couldn’t get to Abeldt, who showed some resilience in coming back out after a rough outing the night before. He had two strikeouts.
For the second night in a row, every Horned Frog that came to the plate had a tally in the hit column.
Sam Myers led the team in RBIs with two, the other four were evenly dispersed amongst four Frogs.
“He’s steady-Eddy,” said Saarloos. “He might not get a hit even time, but you know he’s gonna give you a good, quality at-bat.”
He hit a shot over the first baseman, whose glove didn’t reach high enough as the ball flew into right field to score Myers’ second RBI of the night.
Peyton Chatagnier led the team with two runs scored and two walks.
“It’s easy to put a lot of trust in him,” said Myers. “Quality at-bat after quality at-bat, [we’re] hitting pitches that are good to hit and sticking with what we know.”
Up next
The Frogs will take on a couple more PAC-12 opponents this weekend at Globe Life Field. It’s technically an away game, but many of the players have said the environment still feels like home.
TCU’s first game will be on Friday against USC with first pitch at 2 p.m. Game two will be Arizona State at 6 p.m. before the Sunday game three against USC at 3 p.m. All games will be broadcast on FloSports.TV.
