Arizona baseball swept by No. 2 Oregon State

The Wildcats are under .500

After losing the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader to Oregon State, 15-3, Arizona dropped the series finale 9-3 as the second-ranked Beavers completed the sweep.

UA lefty Andrew Nardi took the loss, pitching five innings, allowing five runs (all earned) on seven hits and four walks.

He initially struggled to begin the game, hitting the first batter and allowing three runs courtesy of RBI singles from Troy Claunch and Eliot Wiley. A sacrifice fly in the second gave the Beavers a 4-1 lead.

Nardi surrendered a homer and single as the only other baserunners for the rest of his start.

UA coach Jay Johnson then turned to a guy who he has called one of the best pitchers on the team in Avery Weems, who allowed three runs on four hits in his inning of work.

Weems entered the day with a 4.74 ERA, good for third-best on the team and left with a 5.85 ERA.

Nate Brown pitched next, allowing one run he walked in before Preston Price finished the game.

Seven different players recorded hits for the Wildcats, who had runners on base in every inning other than the second. However, they hit just 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

Centerfielder Donta Williams had two hits and recorded the team’s lone RBI. He also scored the team’s first run of the game when he stole home in the first. Nick Quintana was the only other Wildcat with two hits.

The Wildcats got their second run in the fourth inning after shortstop Cameron Cannon was caught in a run-down trying to steal second. Before he was tagged, Quintana, who was on third, scored.

Williams’ RBI came after he singled in the fifth to score Brandon Boissiere.

The sweep drops Arizona to 18-19 overall and 6-12 in the Pac-12. They will try to bounce back to .500 on Tuesday when they welcome Grand Canyon to Hi Corbett.

First pitch is at 6 p.m. MST.

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