NCAA Super Regional results: Arizona beats Mississippi State 1-0 in Game One

One win from Omaha

After a 37-minute power outage delay in the middle of the 8th inning, the Arizona Wildcats hung on to a 1-0 lead against the Mississippi State Bulldogs to take the first game of the Starkville Super Regional.

Bobby Dalbec had retired 11 in a row at the time of the delay. He immediately hit a batter, but retired the next three in the 8th thanks to a couple of nice defensive plays and a strikeout looking.

Arizona went down in order in the top of the ninth. Dalbec struck out the first two MSU batters in the home half of the inning, and a single hit to the shortstop brought up nine-hole hitter John Holland.

With a full count, and Tanner Mangum on deck, Holland bounced one through the left side, bringing up MSU's best hitter.

Jay Johnson countered with left-hander Cameron Ming to make Mangum hit from the right side. Ming struck him out swinging, ending the game.

Dalbec, who was drafted in the 4th round by the Red Sox earlier in the day, was exactly what Arizona needed after coming off such a demanding Regional round. The junior twirled 8 2/3 innings, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out nine.

The lone Arizona run came in the sixth inning.

Alfonso Rivas hit a one-out single to bring up Ryan Aguilar.

Aguilar hit into a fielder’s choice, but was able to reach first, which ended up being huge.

JJ Matijevic came up next, and swatted a ball to deep left. It one-hopped the wall, allowing Aguilar to score and gave Arizona the 1-0 lead. Aguilar ended up going 0-for-4 on the day, but that lone run certainly makes up for it.

Arizona was actually just 1-for-15 with runners on base in the game, but that one was a big one.

From there, it was the Dalbec show.

The Wildcats failed to cash in on a couple of opportunities early in the game. Cody Ramer led the contest off with a double to left, but was eventually stranded on third base.

Two innings later, Arizona got a leadoff double from Louis Boyd. A baserunning mistakes erased Boyd for the first out of the third. But after a Rivas walk, Arizona stranded two runners thanks to an Aguilar fly out to center.

It wasn’t just the Wildcats squandering early chances though. Not to be outdone, MSU stranded five runners in the first three innings.

Cats have now squandered two leadoff doubles. Teams have combined to leave 9 men on base. 0-0 after 3. #BearDown

— WildcatUniverse.com (@Scott_Terrell) June 10, 2016

It continued in the fourth. Matijevic got a leadoff single. Kyle Lewis failed to get a bunt down, then with Cesar Salazar up, Matijevic tried to advance on a ball in the dirt, but was thrown out at second by a mile.

Not to be outdone, the Bulldogs stranded runners at the corners in the bottom half. With Mangum up, Dalbec escaped with a nasty breaking ball in the dirt, getting MSU’s best hitter to chase it for strike three.

After that, Dalbec settled in, not allowing a baserunner in the 5th, 6th or 7th innings.

We also had this nice catch from Lewis, who saved a man's life.

There will be no broken cameras on Kyle Lewis' watch! #RoadToOmaha http://pic.twitter.com/z1Vvs6TtDS

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 11, 2016

Arizona now has two games to win one to advance to the College World Series. Saturday's game is set to begin at 3 PM PT and will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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