LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A four-run first inning and another strong starting performance by Tyler Hale sparked the No. 18 Arizona baseball team to a 7-1 victory Sunday afternoon, giving the Wildcats a series victory over host Long Beach State.
Hale improved to 2-0 on the season and kept the LBSU hitters off balance all game long, tossing seven shutout innings while allowing just five hits. He struck out five and walked two.
The Wildcats plated all the runs they needed in the first inning. Joey Rickard and Cole Frenzel hit back-to-back singles to open the game and Jett Bandy drew a walk to load the bases. Robert Refsnyder, who had a double and a home run on Saturday, delivered a two-run single to left-center to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.
Arizona (5-1) tacked on two more runs in the opening frame on an RBI groundout by Johnny Field and a two-out, run-scoring single by Seth Mejias-Brean.
In the fourth inning, the Wildcats scratched across two more runs after Mejias-Brean led off with a double. Bryce Ortega tripled to left field and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Rickard.
Arizona added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Josh Garcia drove home Refsnyder with an RBI double down the left-field line.
With a 7-0 lead after five, UA
