Arizona baseball shuts out BYU behind gem from Luc Fladda on short rest
For two innings on Sunday, Luc Fladda looked great. He retired all six batters he faced, striking out three, and looked in line for a solid outing. Then came the top of the 3 rd , when a loss in command combined with the hot, windy conditions at Hi Corbett Field led to him giving up four runs.
That would be it for him in that game, but it also set the stage for a chance at redemption a few days later. On short rest, Fladda had arguably his best outing of the season in Arizona’s 6-0 win over BYU on Thursday night to open a critical Big 12 series. The senior left-hander struck out a career-high 11 batters over 6.
2 innings, scattering six hits and walking none for the sixth time in 10 starts. “My changeup was really working for me,” said Fladda, who improved to 3-1. “They couldn’t see it, couldn’t hit it, so it was perfect.
” With the series against BYU starting a day earlier than normal, UA coach Chip Hale and pitching coach Sean Kenny decided to adjust the starting rotation to keep right-handers Owen Kramkowski and Smith Bailey on their regular rest for Friday and Saturday, respectively. Hale said he was hoping for maybe five innings from Fladda, who had thrown 53 pitches on Sunday, but he ended up getting to 101 before coming out with two outs in the 7 th . “I think he got better and better as he went on,” Hale said.
“They were kind of on him early, and he made some adjustments. ” Fladda said he was used to pitching twice in a week from his time at Tulane, when he would occasionally start on a Tuesday and come on in relief over the weekend. Since he knew when he exited Sunday’s start that this was the plan he had a head start on getting prepared for Thursday.