Arizona baseball renews rivalry with ASU for weekend series at Hi Corbett Field
With the 2026 season past the halfway point, all signs point to Arizona missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Depending how this upcoming weekend goes, the Wildcats could surpass their loss total from a year ago with six weeks left in the regular season. But there’s still plenty to play for, and in the case of the next opponent, play against.
The UA hosts ASU for three games at Hi Corbett Field beginning Thursday night. “I just think we need to play a good game,” coach Chip Hale said after Tuesday’s home loss to West Virginia. “But we have to play good baseball, and minimize the free 90s.
” That’s the all-encompassing term Hale uses for opposing hitters getting on and getting over without the benefit of a hit. That was a big issue against West Virginia, when UA pitchers issued 10 walks, hit two batters and also had runs score on a passed ball, wild pitch and fielding error. The same thing happened the previous weekend in getting swept at UCF, when over three games Arizona (9-19, 2-7 Big 12) walked 14, hit two and had six wild pitches.
“ASU is another one that’s going to come in here, and if you give them free 90s it’s not going to be pretty,” Hale said. The Sun Devils (21-8, 5-4) is averaging more than nine runs per game, and scored 10 in a nonconference win over Arizona last month. Any free 90s given to them will only enhance their potent attack, which is led by sophomore Landon Hairston , who is hitting .
469 with 17 home runs and 48 RBI. “He’s having a Barry Bonds-type year, we’re going to have to be very careful with him,” Hale said of Hairston, whose father Scott Hairston played for Hale with the Tucson Sidewinders in the mid-2000s. “Landon was born when I was managing his dad.
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