TUCSON, Ariz. - Lucas Long and Stephen Manthei combined to throw a six-hit shutout, the offense rapped out 12 hits and the defense played another errorless game as No. 7 Arizona dispatched visiting UC Davis, 6-0, in the first of a two-game mid-week series on Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field.
Long (2-0) was impressive in his first career start, turning in 6.2 shutout innings. The freshman from Minneapolis scattered six hits and did not walk a batter as he racked up a career-high seven strikeouts. He turned the game over to Manthei with two outs in the seventh inning.
Manthei entered with a pair of runners on board, but induced a soft groundball to escape and keep the shutout in tact heading to the final two innings. In 2.1 innings of relief, Manthei did not allow a runner to reach base and registered a pair of strikeouts.
Arizona (9-2) was held scoreless over the first three innings by Aggies' starter Evan Wolf, who retired the first eight batters he faced. But the Wildcats scratched across single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead before opening up the game in the sixth frame.
Trent Gilbert and Seth Mejias-Brean each drove in two runs for the Wildcats.
Gilbert, Joey Rickard, Robert Refsnyder and Joseph Maggi had two hits apiece, and Refsnyder extended his hitting streak to all 11 games of the 2012 season.
The two-game series concludes on Wednessday at 1 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field.
