With members of three UA national championship teams watching from the Sancet Field bleachers, the current Wildcats climbed out of an 8-0 hole against Baylor yesterday before falling in extra innings for the second consecutive game.

The Bears, ranked 10th by Baseball America, claimed the series victory 2-1 after winning Saturday's game in 11 innings. Arizona won the first game 7-4 on Friday.

Sophomore Michael Griffin put Baylor out in front for good in the top of the 11th with his team-record sixth hit of the day, a line-drive single that scored David Murphy from second base. Another Bear single put the visitors up 11-9 and finished off the day's scoring.

The Wildcats left 13 men on base and committed several mental errors on defense, including a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt that put Murphy in scoring position in the 11th.

"We did a very poor job on bunt defense. We looked young," UA head coach Andy Lopez said. "(Saturday), we only left five guys on base, and I commended them for that. I'll never do it again."

Baylor came out swinging in the first, taking an early 4-0 lead with a three-run homer by Griffin. Griffin ended up going 6-for-6 with six RBIs and two runs scored.

After Baylor extended its lead to 8-0 in the top of the fourth, Arizona's offense woke up, posting three runs in the bottom of the inning on a pair of singles and a three-run homer by freshman Jordan Brown. Brown made the start at first in place of Pat Reilly, one of many Wildcats battling the flu.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Trevor Crowe and Moises Duran in the seventh further chipped away at the Bears' lead. In the seventh, after a Brian Anderson homer, freshman Brad Boyer hit a fly ball to right field that could have ended the Wildcat rally. But Baylor's Murphy lost the ball in the clouds, allowing it to drop in shallow right and letting two runners score to tie the game at eight apiece.

Baylor took a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but UA pinch runner Dallas Haught scored from first on an RBI double by Crowe to tie the game.

Wildcat sophomore Derek Rodriguez (0-1) took the loss, while junior Richie Gardner got a no-decision despite working nine innings in the start.

Lopez said that mental errors haunted the Wildcats in the loss.

"I'm a detail guy, and this weekend ÷ this day in particular ÷ is going to cause me to not sleep well tonight because we didn't do a good job with the details," Lopez said.

Saturday's game was much the same for the Wildcats, as Baylor tied the game in the ninth inning and scored two in the top of the tenth to win, 12-10.

Baylor's Trey Webb won the game with a two-run double in the final inning off of UA closer Mark Worrell, who took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season.

Boyer, Anderson, Haught and Reilly each had two hits and two RBIs in Saturday's loss.

The Wildcats came from behind on Friday as well, but hung on to win the series' first game 7-4 on the back of Duran's two-run homer in the fifth.

UA ace Joe Little went six and one-third innings to claim the victory and even his record at 1-1.

Lopez said he scheduled highly-ranked teams early to give his young team big-game experience but wants to win, too.

"I want their heartbeats up, and their heartbeats were up," Lopez said. "I'm disappointed, because we had a chance to win all three games. I'm not into moral victories."

Anderson said the tough competition has helped him gauge his team's young talent.

"No disrespect to Baylor, because they're a solid ball club," the Tucson native said. "(But) I'm really not that impressed with the teams we've been playing. If that's what Baseball America is going to rank No. 10, I think we're going to be right up there, real soon."