By
Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona bounces back to dominate Oregon St.
It was a tale of two teams this weekend for Arizona baseball.
The Wildcats were outplayed and looked outmatched Saturday as they lost to Oregon State, only to come back to defeat the Beavers 12-6 on Sunday.
"It was big to come back strong," senior first baseman Ernie Durazo said. "We knew we struggled (Saturday). We knew it from the get-go. To bounce back from it shows our maturity. We try to put the past behind us and come out and play hard and just learn from it."
The Wildcats took two out of three from their Pacific 10 Conference foe, but the weekend was full with many ups and downs.
In the series finale on Sunday, head coach Jerry Stitt said that UA played the game the way they should play the game every time they step on the field.
Good hitting and pitching led to the 12-6 Wildcat victory.
"We had a totally different approach," Stitt said. We had energy and we played hard for nine innings. The key was that we competed."
Arizona (21-16, 4-5 Pac-10) was led by sophomore second baseman Matt Abram and Durazo, who both had the hot hand at the plate.
Abram contributed three hits and five RBIs while Durazo chipped in with three hits and three RBIs.
"I felt really good this weekend," Abram said. "I saw the ball really well this weekend, and as a team we had an overall good weekend."
The team finished with 19 hits, with eight of UA's nine starters accumulating at least one hit.
Sophomore catcher Ken Riley was the only Wildcat that went hitless on the day.
"Guys did a good job," Stitt said. "Everyone executed. Every hit-and-run and bunt was successful. Everyone did good for us today."
Sunday was also a good day for Arizona's pitchers.
Junior David Brockman made his first Sunday start of the season and pitched four innings, allowing three runs on six hits.
Wildcat junior southpaw Brian Pemble added 3.1 innings of relief for the Wildcats.
The only runs Pemble allowed came courtesy of a three-run home run by Beaver sophomore third baseman Bryan Barden in the eighth inning.
Aside from the one mistake, Pemble pitched well enough to earn himself a victory and improve his record to 4-3 on the season.
Arizona senior Daryl DeSalvo closed the game by pitching the final 1.2 innings.
"Brockman was real solid today," Durazo said. "Our defense was on its toes, and Pemble came in and did a great job. Overall, I was really happy with what I saw this weekend from our pitching staff."
Pitching was also the key to the Wildcats' 5-2 victory over the Beavers in the series opener Friday.
UA freshman Marc Kaiser tossed a complete game, and Abram hit his sixth home run of the season in the victory. Kaiser allowed just eight hits in the win.
Kaiser's complete game was the first for Arizona this season.
Heading into the bulk of the conference schedule, Durazo said the Wildcats need to continue to play hard every time they step on the field.
"Our intensity level was really good (Sunday)," Durazo said. We are playing good, but we need to be mentally ready to go. We must also stay focused and play our best at all times."
