By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA baseball riding high after six game winning streak; Cats sweep Texas A&M yesterday
After getting swept by Long Beach State three weeks ago, the Wildcats have had two straight sweeps of their own against New Mexico and Texas A&M. UA, mired at 5-7 after the sweep by the Dirtbags, has shown signs of life after sweeping the Aggies.
Yesterday's 16-5 thrashing of A&M (3-4) at Sancet Field extended UA's winning streak to six games. The streak matches the longest for the Wildcats since 1999.
"We were just focused on today and not thinking about what happened before," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said. "It's a good win for us."
For the second straight series, Arizona (11-7) turned to its freshman pitchers as Marc Kaiser, Sean Rierson and Chris Goodman were given the starts.
Kaiser and Goodman had solid outings on Friday and Saturday, though Goodman didn't fare as well yesterday.
The Wildcats had to turn to five relief pitchers to slow down the Aggies' bats in the win.
"We have had guys coming out the bullpen who are throwing strikes," Stitt said. "That's what we have been hoping for all season long."
Down three runs after the first two innings, UA freshman pitcher Joe Little pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief to record the second win of his young career.
Little - sidelined until last week with an ankle injury - relieved Goodman in the middle of the third inning to get the Wildcats out of a jam.
"Coming in with runners on is a tough situation to perform in," Little said. "If I get out of that inning, I start strong and get something to build on."
From the third inning on, everything seemed to fall the Wildcats' way.
The Wildcats scored 16 runs in a span of three innings to jump out to a 13-run lead by the sixth inning.
During that span, the Wildcats "batted around" three times, with junior designated hitter Kenny Huff ending each inning.
Despite Huff's 0-for-5 outing, Stitt said he was happy with the team's offensive production.
"The guys really hit and ran well, bunted well and really moved the runners," Stitt said. "We got the big hits when we needed it."
UA right fielder Shelley Duncan capped off the Wildcats fifth inning, hitting his first home run since he became the all-time leader in Arizona history two weeks ago.
Third baseman Erik Torres continued his torrid hitting in the series, gaining four more RBI yesterday to give him eight in the series.
Senior first baseman Ernie Durazo extended his hitting streak to 21 games, tying the longest streak for a Wildcat since Diego Rico in 1997.
Arizona received offensive production from a spot that has been overlooked all season - the No. 7, 8, and 9 batters.
Center fielder Brian Anderson, catcher Ken Riley and left fielder Justyn St. Clair combined to go 6-for-9 in the game. Riley improved his average to .320 for the season, hitting .500 during the weekend.
"The thing I liked the most was that (the bottom) part of our order was just huge for us today," Stitt said. "Which set it up for the rest of the lineup."
