{"id":210401,"date":"2026-03-08T14:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/210401\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T14:29:13","slug":"arizona-baseball-defeats-fresno-state-behind-baileys-dominant-outing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/210401\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Baseball Defeats Fresno State Behind Bailey’s Dominant Outing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published on Mar. 8, 2026<\/p>\n

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

The University of Arizona baseball team clinched a series win over Fresno State on Saturday night, defeating the Bulldogs 9-5 behind a strong pitching performance from sophomore Smith Bailey. Bailey threw 7 scoreless innings, striking out a career-high 9 batters, to lead the Wildcats to victory. Arizona’s offense also came alive late, scoring 4 runs in the 7th inning and 3 more in the 8th to pull away.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

This win marks the first time this season that Arizona will head into a Sunday game knowing they have already secured the weekend series. After a slow 1-8 start, the Wildcats have now won 4 of their last 5 games, showing signs of turning their season around.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

Bailey, a sophomore right-hander, surpassed his previous career-best strikeout total by 3, fanning 9 Fresno State batters. He pitched into the 7th inning for the first time in his 22 career starts, throwing 100 pitches but only needing 28 in the final 3 innings after laboring early. The Wildcats only led 1-0 after 5 innings, but broke the game open with a 4-run 7th inning and 3-run 8th. Fresno State did score 5 runs in the 8th to make it close, but Arizona’s offense responded to secure the victory.<\/p>\n

The game was played on Saturday, March 8, 2026.
\n The players<\/p>\n

Smith Bailey<\/p>\n

A sophomore right-handed pitcher for the University of Arizona baseball team who threw 7 scoreless innings with a career-high 9 strikeouts in the win over Fresno State.<\/p>\n

TJ Adams<\/p>\n

An Arizona player who reached base 3 times with a walk, hit-by-pitch, and a bunt single for his first hit of the season.<\/p>\n

Maddox Mihalakis<\/p>\n

An Arizona player who had a 2-run single in the 7th inning and finished the game 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.<\/p>\n

Zach Plasschaert<\/p>\n

A former Arizona outfielder who is now playing for Fresno State and had a 2-run double in the 8th inning to make the score 6-5.<\/p>\n

Garrett Hicks<\/p>\n

An Arizona relief pitcher who came in to end Fresno State’s 5-run rally in the 8th inning.<\/p>\n

Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a>
\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I just get kind of more energy. I do think it’s a little bit of feeling it out, getting dialed in with my pitches, and then at the end emptying my tank with every throw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Smith Bailey (Yahoo Sports)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been fun because like whatever’s asked of me I just do my job. It was nice to get that bunt down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 TJ Adams (Yahoo Sports)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The Wildcats will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 12 p.m. PT, with left-hander Luc Fladda scheduled to start on the mound.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

After a slow start to the season, Arizona’s baseball team is starting to turn things around, clinching a series win over Fresno State behind a dominant pitching performance from sophomore Smith Bailey. The Wildcats’ offense also came alive late to secure the victory, showing they have the potential to compete in the Pac-12 this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on Mar. 8, 2026 Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a The University of Arizona baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-210401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}