Tuesday night, someone, somewhere, picked up a Colt Sedbrook voodoo doll. The one with a red Arizona jersey, greasy eye black and a hat pulled down tightly over the eyes.
During the UA's 18-0 win over Southern Utah, Sedbrook was hit by a pitch for the 19th time this season, tying a school record set by Jason Donald last year.
It must be black magic. How else to explain Sedbrook's propensity for being plunked?
It took Donald 59 games to get hit 19 times. Tuesday night, the Wildcats (18-20) played their 38th game.
"A magnet for a baseball," coach Andy Lopez said.
Four UA batters were hit Tuesday to give the team a school-record 70. Sedbrook averages a beaning every other game, fourth most in the country.
He has the bruises to prove it; Sedbrook could work nights doubling as the frozen slab of meat from "Rocky."
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"Most of the time it goes right in the tricep," he said, showing a barbed wire tattoo. "When you get hit in the elbow, it's a pain in the butt."
Here's the payoff: Entering Tuesday, he led UA starters with a .465 on-base percentage, .081 percent better than the next-highest player.
"There's a time when you're not seeing the ball as well and they come inside and you go, 'Might as well lean into it,' " said Sedbrook, who went 0 for 4. "My dad taught me to get on base as much as you can."
With a baseball-coach father, the sophomore grew up around older kids who toughened him up.
"I was never afraid of the ball," he said.
As a high school junior in Broomfield, Colo., Sedbrook was beaned three straight times after launching a home run in the first inning and watching it all the way down the line. At 14, he was drilled in the jaw during a tournament in Texas and was rushed to a hospital.
His reaction: "That was kind of annoying."
The Wildcats scored nine runs in the first four innings, one in the sixth and eight more in the eighth to give the game a football-like score.
Not that Sedbrook needs any more contact.
"Knock on wood, I'm surprised he's not in a cast," Lopez said.
Making his first start of the year Tuesday, the UA's Matt Baugh (1-0) allowed four hits in seven innings against the 20-15 Thunderbirds.
Southern Utah Arizona
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Hahl lf 2 0 0 0 Boyer 2b 6 2 3 2
Jensen ph/cf 1 0 0 0 Sedbrook 3b/ss 4 1 0 0
Dimick 2b 3 0 1 0 Plante lf 4 2 0 1
Sotelo cf 3 0 0 0 Donald ss 6 2 3 3
Romney lf 1 0 0 0 Peep 3b 0 0 0 0
Burgess rf 4 0 2 0 Rhinehart rf 3 3 1 1
Oliverson dh 3 0 1 0 Glenn 1b 3 1 2 2
Wright 1b 3 0 0 0 Pearson ph/1b 2 1 2 3
Wilson 3b 3 0 0 0 Decater dh 5 2 3 0
Nelson c 3 0 0 0 Schmidt c 3 2 2 2
Zablan ss 3 0 0 0 Denker c 0 0 0 0
Steele cf 4 2 2 3
Totals 29 0 4 0 Totals 40 18 18 17
Southern Utah 000 000 000 — 0
Arizona 121 501 08x — 18
E: Dimick, Wright, Zablan, Glenn. DP: SU 3, Arizona 1. LOB: SU 4, Arizona 10. 2B: Burgess, Glenn, Schmidt. 3B: Pearson. HR: Boyer (1), Donald (4). S: Rhinehart. SF: Glenn. SB: Bimick, Boyer. CS: Hahl.
IP H R ER BB SO
Southern Utah
Hubbard L, 4-4 3 1/3 9 8 6 2 2
Ellenbrook 2 1/2 4 2 2 2 3
Wittwer 1 0 0 0 0 1
Ellena 1/2 3 6 6 1 2
Job 1/3 2 2 2 1 0
Arizona
Baugh W, 1-0 7 4 0 0 2 10
Burns 1 0 0 0 0 2
Guilmet 1 0 0 0 0 1
WP: Ellenbrook. HBP: by Ellenbrook (Schmidt) by Wittwer (Sedbrook) by Ellena (Rhinehart, Steele). PB: Nelson. Att: 321
