JUNE 26, 2012: ARIZONA WINS ITS FOURTH COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Arizona’s 2012 Road to the College World Series began 1,319 miles and 30 days from the championship game in Omaha.
As with most important events in UA sports, it began with a showdown against Arizona State.
On a Friday night, May 25, at Hi Corbett Field, entering the game unranked against No. 13 ASU, the Wildcats were no one’s idea of a potential national champion. Andy Lopez’s team was 36-16, a club that had lost recent Pac-12 series to UCLA and Oregon.
But when the Sun Devils and Wildcats went to the bottom of the ninth inning in a scoreless game, 5,451 fans at Hi Corbett Field came alive. Everything changed. Outfielder Robert Refsnyder was on first base with two outs as third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean drilled the ball down the left-field line.
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As Refsnyder sped around second base, UA third-base coach Matt Siegel held up his arms. Stop.
Refsnyder kept going; everyone in the ballpark stood, gasping, watching Refsnyder race the throw to the plate.
Arizona won 1-0 as Refsnyder’s head-first slide beat the throw by an eyelash or two.
“I love Robert,” Lopez said, shaking his head. “He’ll push the limits.”
Two days later, in another bit of ninth-inning theater, Arizona rallied to beat the Sun Devils 8-7 when outfielder Johnny Field’s two-out single scored Joey Rickard to clinch a tie for the Pac-12 championship.
“I really wanted to be up there,” said Field.
“It felt like the World Series,” UA starting pitcher Kurt Heyer, who would go 13-2, said. “Oh, dude, all hell broke loose.”
That was the way it was for the ’12 Wildcats, a seize-the-moment, clutch team like few in the school’s formidable baseball history. What felt like the World Series soon became the World Series.
Arizona didn’t lose again. It swept a sub-regional series at Hi Corbett Field against Missouri and Louisville by a combined 47-10. It then routed St. John’s in the Super Regionals at Hi Corbett and went to the College World Series on a six-game winning streak.
But nobody was picking Arizona to win it all, even after a perfect 5-0 run in which it outscored opponents 27-8.
“This is the Ray Tanner Invitational,” Lopez said upon arrival in Omaha, subtly putting the pressure on South Carolina coach Ray Tanner and the Gamecocks.
And why not?
South Carolina had won the 2010 and 2011 national championships, winning 20 consecutive post-season games.
But before Arizona could worry about the Gamecocks, it first had to beat Florida State twice, and shut out Pac-12 power UCLA 4-0 behind sophomore pitcher Konner Wade.
Then came the South Carolina showdown. Arizona’s winning streak had reached nine. No longer were the Wildcats a feel-good Cinderella story, especially after they beat the Gamecocks 5-1 in the opener behind Wade, who pitched his third straight post-season complete game.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been part of something like this,” Lopez said.
The championship game was stocked with drama. The Wildcats won 4-1, but not before South Carolina put the tying runs on base in the ninth inning. Fittingly, the last out was a fly ball caught by Refsnyder, who emerged as the CWS’ most outstanding performer, hitting .444 with two homers in the expansive TD Ameritrade Stadium.
It was Arizona’s first national championship since Jerry Kindall coached the Wildcats to 1976, 1980 and 1986 titles. After the celebration and trophy ceremony, Lopez tried to put his first national title since coaching Pepperdine in 1992 into perspective.
“One thing I’ve said to every club, right after the game, get them off to the side, under the clubhouse, I said, ‘This is a great moment, a phenomenal moment, you’ll remember the rest of your life, but it’s not your identity, it’s not who you are as a person. It’s a moment. Cherish the moment. But your identity is who you are as a man and as a father.’”
Three years later, after extensive open heart surgery, Lopez retired.
Where are they now: Refsnyder is a semi-regular for the New York Yankees. Outfielder Joey Rickard, who scored the winning run in the Pac-12 finale against ASU, plays for the Baltimore Orioles.
How they did it: The Wildcats had career-type seasons across the board.
Field led the Pac-12 with a .370 batting average. Mejias-Brean hit .356. Shortstop Alex Mejia, the Pac-12 player of the year, hit 357. The UA hit .329 as a team, which included a timely .301 from freshman catcher Riley Moore.
Heyer, 13-2, won more games in an Arizona season than anyone since Scott Erickson in 1989. Wade and James Farris, two under-the-radar starting pitchers, combined to go 18-6.
