It’s a good thing next week’s Pac-12 Tournament, as well as each round of the NCAA tourney, are double-elimination formats, because Arizona hasn’t been good at first impressions.
The Wildcats dropped to 4-6 in Pac-12 series openers, losing 10-4 at Oregon on Thursday night. The loss assures the UA (35-19, 16-12) will finish in fourth or fifth place and face the Ducks (33-21, 16-12) in the first game of next week’s conference tourney in Scottsdale.
Up 1-0 after the first inning, when it got the first three batters on base, Arizona didn’t score again until the sixth when it trailed 8-1 despite getting the leadoff man on in five of the first six frames.