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UA baseball notes - Wildcats disappointed after 2 road trips

In the past two weeks, the UA baseball team took two of three games from Washington, only to lose two of three games to Oregon State last weekend.

In Friday afternoon's game, sophomore Ben Diggins allowed a seventh-inning grand slam as the Wildcats fell to the Beavers, 6-3.

"Benny couldn't keep the ball down," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said. "He needs to stay ahead (to be effective)."

The Beavers hit their second grand slam in two days on Saturday, as OSU cruised to a 10-4 victory over UA.

"We just didn't score runs," Stitt said.

Although the Wildcats won Sunday afternoon's game, dropping two of three to the lowly Beavers was hardly an accomplishment.

"We had a lot of things going against us," junior shortstop Keoni DeRenne said. "The weather was bad. Although Oregon State is capable of beating anyone in the Pac-10, they were lucky to take two of three games from us."

A 3-3 record after two weekends is not good enough for the Wildcats, according to UA head coach Jerry Stitt.

"I thought we should have done better," he said. "I honestly thought we would go 4-2."

The Wildcats underachieved on their road trips, as both the Beavers and Huskies are considered in the bottom half of the Pacific 10 Conference.

"We figured that we could sweep one of the two teams," Stitt said. "We just didn't get the job done. I'm definitely not pleased with a 3-3 record."

After starting the season with an 8-0 record, Diggins has lost his last two starts.

Last Friday against OSU, the right-hander allowed six earned runs on 10 hits in the loss.

According to Stitt, Diggins' main fault was his inability to keep the ball down. The sophomore had seven walks as well as a seventh inning grand slam to harpoon his effort.

"Benny was doing OK until the grand slam in the seventh inning," Stitt said. "How he faced the batters before, that hurt him. If he stays ahead of those guys, he would have done better."

The Wildcats return home to Sancet Field tomorrow for a three-game set against Washington State.

The series, which would normally start on Friday, will start a day early due to Sunday's Easter holiday.

For Stitt, the holiday is a chance to take time away from baseball.

"It's really the only day off that the team has all year," he said. "The players don't have any class to go to, and we all don't have to go into the office."

Stitt, who will spend the day "not doing anything," claims the early series also gives the team a chance to get back on the field after losing two of three games to Oregon State last weekend.

"We're ready to get back out there," Stitt said.

DeRenne has other plans for the day off.

"All of my family is from out of town, so I plan on sleeping late and catching up on some schoolwork," he said. "When we take these long road trips, we usually end up missing a lot of class on Thursday, Friday and sometimes Monday. Baseball is a long season, and it's nice to have a holiday like this for us."