Baseball team ties best start ever

Matt Heistand Arizona Daily Wildcat Second baseman Erik Mattern (16) throws to first base to complete a double play. Mattern hit a home run in the fourth inning yesterday to help the Wildcats improve their record to 13-0, their best start since 1974.

Yesterday against a New Mexico State team that UA second baseman Erik Mattern said "doesn't belong on the same field with us," the Wildcats squeaked by with an 11-10 win at Frank Sancet Field.

"We allowed them to hang with us," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said.

Arizona jumped out to a 7-1 lead, but the Aggies (6-4) cut the margin to 7-6 in the top of the fifth.

UA senior right-hander Tyler Haddix, starting for the first time since elbow surgery last February, was able to hold the Aggies in check for the first four innings, giving up only one run on seven hits while striking out six.

But he lost it in the fifth. After the Aggies hit three singles that got past UA first baseman Kenny Corley, NMSU first baseman Jason Story crushed a pitch deep to left-center field to cut the Arizona lead to 7-5.

And after Arizona added four more runs in the bottom of the inning, the Aggies continued to claw their way back.

A two-run double by Aggie catcher Chris Roberson in the seventh and third baseman Chris Weekly's homer in the eighth made the game close.

But UA left-handed closer Ryan Moskau shut the door when he came in for the last two innings, striking out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

"I'm back in my flow," Moskau said. "I was off for a little bit there, but 'Skau ball' is back."

Moskau struggled in his last few outings, watching his ERA balloon to 12.00 entering yesterday's game.

He looked shaky in the top of the eighth, giving up the home run to Weekly to cut the lead to 11-10.

"It was just that one pitch," Moskau said. "I hung that curve ball and he hammered it. Other than that I wasn't that bad."

Stitt said the Wildcats' No. 10 national ranking might have had something to do with yesterday's narrow margin of victory. Prior to the game, Arizona was defeating teams by an average of more than seven runs.

"Everybody's out to beat us," he said. "We didn't compete well in the middle innings."

Mattern said.

"We're No. 10 in the country. People are going to be shooting for us now. It's not like when you're 24th and you can sneak up on people," he said.

Southpaw Tony Milo, who pitched three innings in relief, picked up his fourth win of the year against no losses.