Arizona baseball: Three Up, Three Down: California-Berkeley series

What a cruel joke this team is

Sitting at Hi Corbett each of the last three days was absolute torture. The Arizona Wildcats were swept by the California Golden Bears at home, to extend the home losing streak to seven games. That's the longest such losing streak since 1998.

It was all about the lack of offense for the Wildcats, dropping Friday night's contest 3-1, Saturday night 4-0, and then the series finale Sunday afternoon 8-2.

Believe it or not, there were some guys that were good. Coming up with the three worst is going to be difficult, but here we go!

Three Up:

1. Cody Hamlin

Just going in order here with Hamlin and Bannister. Hamlin started the series with 7 1/3 innings of seven-hit ball, giving up just two earned runs while striking out six. It came down to one bad inning, giving up both of those runs in the fourth inning.

2. Nathan Bannister

Bannister followed up that outing by coming up just one out shy of a complete game. When you only give up four earned runs on a Saturday night, with the kind of hitters Arizona has, you should be winning that game 10-4. Not losing it 4-0. Just like Hamlin, Bannister ran into trouble in the fourth, giving up two runs of his own in that frame. He also gave up two in the fifth, but overall, another very impressive outing from the junior.

3. Scott Kingery

Kingery had came in on a relative "slump" for him, but a 7-for-13 weekend ends that discussion as he is still in the hunt for the national batting title. No extra-base hits though, which seems a little strange.

Three Down:

1. Kevin Newman

Earlier this week, I discussed Newman's historic lack of power for a probable Top 50 draft pick. But this week, he had no hitting at all, going just 2-for-11 at the plate. He also struggled in the field, resulting in his eighth error of the season on Sunday. If you're Newman, and you're supposed to be this great draft prospect with all the tools, how do you end up on a team that's going to miss the tournament all three years you're on it? How is that a thing that's happening? Be a team leader one time. You won't.

2. Bobby Dalbec

Dalbec failed to reach base in a game for the first time this season on Saturday. Just part of his 1-for-11 weekend at the dish. And then he went out and had a bad fifth inning on the mound on Sunday, even though Andy Lopez did say that Dalbec's tricep was tightening, which led to decreased velocity and getting smacked around the yard. It ended up being five hits allowed in 5 1/3 innings, surrendering four runs (two earned) and walking a guy.

3. Hitting w/ RISP

This series was not about Arizona's inability to get guys on base. They did just fine there, racking up 26 hits over the three games. It was about getting those runners home. How about a cool 6-for-49 with runners in scoring position as a team against Cal? The Bears were 14-of-50 in the same situations.

I don't know where this team is going to find the guts and the intensity to look like a decent college baseball team over the final month of the season, but they better find it Monday with ASU coming to town Tuesday. It's sickening to see a team that looked so promising just four weeks ago look so putrid now.

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