Arizona Wildcats baseball

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team is the intercollegiate men's baseball program representing the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, United States. They compete in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) of NCAA Division I.

Arizona Wildcats
2021 Arizona Wildcats baseball team
Founded1904
UniversityUniversity of Arizona
Head coachJay Johnson (6th season)
ConferencePac-12
LocationTucson, Arizona
Home stadiumHi Corbett Field
(Capacity: 9,500)
NicknameWildcats
ColorsCardinal and Navy[1]
         
NCAA Tournament champions
1976, 1980, 1986, 2012
College World Series runner-up
1956, 1959, 1963, 2016
College World Series appearances
1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 2004, 2012, 2016
NCAA Tournament appearances
1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017
Conference champions
1963, 1966, 1974, 1989, 1992, 2012
Kindall Field where the Wildcats played baseball until 2012, when they relocated to nearby Hi Corbett Field

Like its football counterpart and other sports, the baseball program has been playing under the shadows of the Wildcats’ basketball and softball programs during most of its history, though they have been successful sporadically, and has captured four national championship titles in 1976, 1980, 1986 and 2012, with the first three coached by Jerry Kindall and the most recent by Andy Lopez. The team has appeared in the NCAA National Championship title series eight times (1956, 1959, 1963, 1976, 1980, 1986, 2012, and 2016). They have appeared in 34 baseball tournaments in their rich history. Arizona is ranked seventh in all-time regular season game wins with 2,347. Arizona fielded its first team in 1904.

Venues

Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium

The former home of Arizona baseball is Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium. The park is located on the campus of the University of Arizona, adjacent to the McKale Center, home of the UA athletics department. Arizona played its games at the Kindall Field from prior to the 1967 season through the end of the 2011 season. Modernization of the facility was completed for the 1975 season. Originally called Wildcat Field, the park was officially dedicated Frank Sancet Field on April 19, 1986, in honor of Arizona's longtime head coach. Sancet, who coached from 1950–72, posted an 831–283–8 (.744) mark at the helm of the Cats.

Relocation to Hi Corbett Field

In an effort to have the Wildcat baseball program compete in the best possible facilities, in August 2011, the UA signed an agreement with the city of Tucson for Arizona baseball to play its home games at city-owned Hi Corbett Field, located about three miles southeast of campus, for the 2012 season (beginning with a five-year lease with an option to renew for an additional five years). The UA spent about $350,000 to make several upgrades to the former spring training facility (used as such by the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies), where the Wildcats previously played selected games in the 1960s and '70s.[2][3] Through the first three-game series of the 2012 season against North Dakota State, the attendance at the stadium was a total of 8,870, which was nearly 1/4th of the total home attendance for the Wildcats' previous season at Sancet Stadium.

In 2012, the Wildcats posted a 38–17 regular season record (20–10 in Pac-12 conference play), capturing a share of the Pac-12 baseball championship, the school's first league title since 1992. As a result, Hi Corbett Field hosted both an NCAA Regional and Super Regional tournament, and Arizona won both of those to advance to the 2012 College World Series (the program's first postseason appearance in Omaha since 2004)[4] where the team won its fourth national championship. In the 2012 season, the team brought in almost $350,000 in ticket revenue (not including revenue for tickets sold during the NCAA Regional or Super Regional); this is compared to the 2011 season, when Arizona baseball brought in $69,000 worth of ticket revenue in its final season at Sancet Stadium. The relocation of the Wildcat baseball program to Hi Corbett Field has been noted as a major factor in the team's successful 2012 season.[5]

In March 2017, the University signed a 25-year lease on Hi Corbett Field, taking over the day-to-day management of the baseball stadium from the City of Tucson.[6]

Individual honors

Notable alumni

Retired jerseys

Student-Athlete jerseys are retired but not individual player numbers.[8]

No. Player
1John Salmon
2Lee Franklin
15Trevor Hoffman
32Terry Francona
41Kelsey Osburn

Rivalries

Arizona State

Arizona’s main rival is Arizona State. Although they are famously known for their rivalry in football and basketball as well as softball, both schools have had a rich baseball tradition in their history. The Wildcats lead the Sun Devils in all time baseball series 253–220–1 as of 2020 and both teams have had several players drafted into MLB.

In recent years, ASU has had an edge over Arizona in baseball success, supposedly due to the fact that ASU is from the Phoenix area and that several MLB teams playing spring training there have inspired them. Also, the presence and early success of the state’s MLB team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, has also inspired the Sun Devil baseball program to become successful (the Diamondbacks also support the Wildcats as well), and that Arizona’s baseball program, being located in Tucson (which formerly held Diamondback and other MLB spring training events), has mostly been overshadowed by the success of the Wildcats’ basketball and softball programs, but has had sporadic success with several winning seasons, including a College World Series championship in 2012.[9]

See also

References

  1. "The University of Arizona Wildcats Logosheet" (PDF). December 9, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  2. "UA Baseball to Play at Hi Corbett Field". UA News. University of Arizona. August 10, 2011.
  3. Finley, Ryan (January 6, 2012). "Arizona Wildcats baseball: Lopez, Cats excited to get going in new Hi Corbett digs". Arizona Daily Star.
  4. "Arizona Advances to First CWS Since '04". ColumbiaTribune.com. The Associated Press. June 10, 2012. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  5. "University of Arizona Baseball: Making the College World Series...and Money". Forbes.com. Forbes. June 13, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  6. Ferguson, Joe (March 29, 2017). "UA will upgrade, manage Hi Corbett Field in new lease with Tucson". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  7. Adams, Steve. "Chip Hale Returns To Athletics As Third Base Coach". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  8. "Retirement of jerseys" at Wildcats website
  9. "The history of baseball in Arizona". The Arizona Republic. February 25, 2002.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.