Monday, May 25, 2015

Arizona baseball: The last inning of 2015 one to remember

Knowing what we know now, this was the perfect way to end the 2015 season.

It was a meaningless game on a Sunday afternoon at Hi Corbett.

Arizona was playing Hawaii, with nothing on the line for either side. The Wildcats entered the bottom of the 8th inning with an 8-1 lead.

Juniors Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman each reached base after receiving love from the crowd, as it's widely accepted that those would be the final at bats for the highly-touted prospects.

But then senior Riley Moore came up with two outs, and the crowd rose to their feet for the four-year catcher.

"It was really special," Newman explained. "I was kind of in the zone. I didn't really notice it for myself, but Kingery I saw it, and Riley I definitely saw it, and it was really special for him. Been here four years and on a National Championship team, I just thought it was really cool."

"That was pretty sweet, wasn't it?," added Andy Lopez. "I thought that was good. Riley's caught for four years here and done a good job. It was well-merited. He's a good, young guy who's grown up a lot and a good baseball player and hopefully he gets to go play pro ball somewhere."

Now that we know it was also the last at bat by an Andy Lopez coached team, it must mean a lot for him to have experienced that with his senior catcher in his final game as a head coach.

Moore ended up grounding out to end the inning, making him the final batter of the 2015 season.

"I wish he could have gotten a hit there," Kingery said. "I mean, the crowd went nuts for RiMo, they love him out here. But it was definitely really cool that we all had a chance to bat in that last inning."

"It's awesome, no matter what, whether we're in the playoffs or not, (the fans) are still backing us," Kingery continued. "They're still out here supporting us, and they're happy for us and, I mean, RiMo doesn't have another year of eligibility left in college, and that was his last at bat, and it's awesome that the fans got behind him and gave him a standing ovation, because I guarantee that felt special for him."

Even though the last three years haven't exactly gone as planned, it seems like that time and the Andy Lopez era ended the best way possible. With Riley Moore in the batter's box and the fans on their feet.



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