Wildcats' Fight Can't Overcome Fatal Mistake

OMAHA—Before righthander Bobby Dalbec walked off a pitcher’s mound for the final time in an Arizona uniform—and possibly the last time in his baseball career—he extended his right arm and gave his senior second baseman a comforting rub on the back, a sympathetic massage of the shoulder.

Cody Ramer stared down, dejected, then turned his head and gazed out toward the left-field bullpen, where lefthander Cameron Ming emerged, jogging in toward the mound.

How quickly it had all unraveled. A few minutes before, the Wildcats were in the thick of a scoreless Game Three of the College World Series finals with Coastal Carolina. There were Coastal runners on second and third in the top of the sixth inning, but there were also two outs, and it appeared Dalbec had quashed the Coastal rally when Zach Remillard hit a 91 mph fastball into the ground.

The ball went straight to Ramer, a two-hopper just in front of second base. But Ramer couldn’t handle it. The grounder went in his glove, then out. One run scored. In an act of desperation, Ramer picked up the ball and fired to third to try to catch the runner there. The throw sailed over third baseman Kyle Lewis’ head. A second run scored.

What could’ve been the final out of the inning—what could’ve kept a scoreless game scoreless—turned disastrous. Ramer just slumped, put his hands on his thighs and watched as Lewis chased after the ball he threw away.

One batter later, G.K. Young turned on a hanging 76 mph curveball and powered it over the right-field bullpen and into the seats. A two-run shot. A scoreless game turned into a four-run deficit. All four unearned.

A minute later, Arizona coach Jay Johnson approached the mound. The Wildcats gathered. Dalbec put his arm around Ramer.

“I was just trying to be there for him,” Dalbec said. “We’ve all made errors before, and it stings—and that one stung a lot. (I was) just trying to pick him up.”

That four-run inning would prove to be the decisive blow—the difference between a championship trophy and the runner-up. Though the Wildcats rallied for two runs in the bottom half of the sixth—thanks, in part, to a Coastal error—a ninth-inning rally fell a run short.

The Wildcats scored one on a sacrifice fly by outfielder Zach Gibbons, but reserve catcher Ryan Haug struck out with the tying run on third and go-ahead run on second base to send the Chanticleers into their frenzied dogpile. Coastal Carolina won, 4-3, and the Wildcats had to watch their teal-clad opponents celebrate a national title from their third-base dugout as they awaited the trophy presentation.

Ramer’s eyes were red when he took the post-game dais, his hat pulled low, eye black thick and heavy. He looked down as Johnson went through his opening statement, but he held his composure when he spoke—what would he remember most about this team?

“How this group fought,” Ramer said. “It showed in the ninth inning. We weren’t going down easy. They picked me up for every mistake I made, and I was hoping we were going to pull through.”

Ramer played a key role in that spirited, last-ditch ninth-inning effort, singling with one out to advance the baserunner from first to third, setting up Gibbons’ sac fly.

A 19th-round pick by the Angels, Ramer had been the straw that stirred the Wildcats’ offense all season and particularly in the CWS, as the leadoff hitter scored the bulk of the eight first-inning runs the Wildcats plated throughout the Series. He went 10-for-32 in Omaha, scoring seven runs, and he finished the year batting .348/.441/.483 overall.

His offensive leadership propelled Arizona throughout its postseason run—especially so in the Series. His defensive lapses in Game Three didn’t change the way the Wildcats looked at him.

“If I ever have a son and he’s half of what he is as a person, a player and a competitor, I’d be extremely proud,” Johnson said, fighting back emotion. “I wish I could coach him every year of my life . . . I love him with everything I have. He was the best player in the Pac-12 this year. Nobody meant more to their team.”

Last Pitching Roundup

As much as Ramer meant to Arizona offensively, Dalbec meant just as much on the mound for the Wildcats throughout the NCAA tournament. That wasn’t expected to be the case in the preseason. A year after leading the Pac-12 in home runs as a third baseman, most expected to Dalbec to have a conference player-of-the-year caliber season at third base. Though still drafted by the Red Sox in the fourth round as a third baseman, Dalbec had a down offensive year (.260/.370/.429, seven home runs), but Johnson called his postseason pitching a “borderline legendary” performance.

After the No. 2-seed Wildcats fought through the losers’ bracket in the Lafayette Regional, relying heavily on ace Nathan Bannister to surprise host Louisiana-Lafayette, Johnson tabbed Dalbec to start Game One in the raucous atmosphere of the Starkville Super Regional.

Dalbec (11-6, 2.50), primarily Arizona’s closer throughout the regular season, responded with 8 2/3 scoreless innings against the No. 6 national seed, mighty Mississippi State, putting the Wildcats in position to advance to Omaha a day later. In the Series itself, Dalbec dueled admirably with Oklahoma State righthander Tyler Buffett, striking out a career-high 12 and allowing just one run in a 1-0 loss. Four days later, he held the Cowboys to one run again, in seven innings, to take the Wildcats to the CWS finals.

Dalbec seemed well on his way to another dominant outing against Coastal in Game Three before the fateful sixth inning. Still, Dalbec’s 26 strikeouts are the second-most by any CWS pitcher in the last 30 years—an impressive feat for someone who says he has no interest pitching at the next level.

“He was Jake Arrieta for us in the postseason,” Johnson said. “If the Boston Red Sox don’t want to pay him what he’s worth, I’m happy to have him back.”

Both Dalbec and Ramer were two keys to a historic postseason run for Arizona, one that saw the Wildcats win six elimination games as they fought through losers’ brackets twice. Johnson finished 49-24 in just his first year as Arizona’s head coaching, leading the Wildcats back to the NCAA tournament and to Omaha for the first time since 2012.

“This is the best five weeks of my life,” Johnson said. “And I don’t want to say goodbye to these guys, because what you saw was great baseball really for the whole year.

“We won more games than any team at the University of Arizona in the last 30 years. You have to go back to the 1986 national championship team to find a team that won more games. And it’s very gratifying based on where we started, and I’m so proud of them and I’m very—I couldn’t be more pleased at the foundation that was set.”

That foundation will have to go on without Ramer and Dalbec—two cogs in the Wildcats’ postseason machine.

“Can’t put it into words,” said sophomore Jared Oliva of what the duo meant to the team. “Bobby on the mound, at third base—it’s unbelievable. And (Ramer), he’s been our spark plug the whole season, leading the postseason and the World Series run. Like I said, can’t put it into words. We’re going to miss these guys.”

In a NCAA tournament full of spirited comebacks and highlights, the last image the Wildcats will have of the pair is maybe one they wouldn’t have expected—Dalbec with his arm around Ramer, surrounded by their teammates on the mound.