‘National champions to me’: The 2016 Arizona baseball team, 10 years later | Michael Lev

That’s how the 2016 Arizona baseball team saw it. That’s how those Wildcats rolled.

A group gathered in a circle in front of their dugout and played the hacky-sack-like game while Mississippi State fans gave them the business.

“Playing two ball at that point, I think, was the epitome of who we were as a team — playing loose, having fun,” said JC Cloney, one of the top starting pitchers on that club. “There was really never a (thought) of, ‘Oh, the moment's too big for us.’ We just enjoyed every second of every moment.”

Ten years have passed since the 2016 Wildcats embarked on an epic and unexpected run to the College World Series and came as close to winning it as possible without doing so. Members of that team are still enjoying the afterglow. Well, mostly.

“I think about it often,” said Jay Johnson, Arizona’s head coach from 2015-21. “If there's one thing I could change in my entire coaching career, we would have one more base hit there.

“That team was a national championship team to me. They did everything to earn it. We were just a base hit short.”

Before we continue our trip down memory lane — which saw me put 856 miles on a Kia Soul in SEC country during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament — let’s address Johnson’s presence in this piece.

I’m well aware that many of you still feel bitter about the way he left Arizona shortly after the 2021 CWS. You have every right to feel that way.

I just didn’t think the story of the ’16 Wildcats could be told without him. He truly loves that team. And he played an integral role in putting all the pieces together — despite not having any of the quick-fix tools that are available to coaches today.

Let’s start there. Johnson was hired in early June 2015. He succeeded Andy Lopez, who had retired about two weeks earlier after 14 seasons. Lopez led Arizona to the CWS title in 2012. But the program failed to make the tournament over the next three years.

Johnson inherited a talented but underachieving bunch. He had limited ability to alter the roster. He was able to add a handful of key players, including pitchers Kevin Ginkel and Cody Deason. But for the most part, Johnson had to work with what he had. The transfer portal didn’t exist.

“I'm glad that wasn't an option, because my relationships with those guys are very strong,” Johnson said. “We had to figure that thing out together. That’s a bond that will be strong forever.”

Johnson spent much of that summer building relationships with his new charges, including rising junior Bobby Dalbec, a two-way standout who’d be drafted the following June. Johnson also had to formulate a plan for Arizona’s returning seniors. Most of them hadn’t experienced much in the way of individual or team success.

Johnson’s goal for them: Make the 2015-16 season “the best baseball experience of their life.”

“He just said flush pretty much everything that happened in the last three years and just focus on the day-to-day,” said Zach Gibbons, one of those seniors and the starting right fielder for the 2016 squad. “Just focus on that, and good things will happen.”

New approach

It didn’t take long for good things to happen once the 2016 season began. Arizona took two of three at Rice, which was ranked 24th in preseason polling. The Wildcats were ranked ninth — in their own conference.

“Our backs were against the wall the whole year,” Gibbons said. “We essentially were told that we're gonna suck. So why not go out and try to win the dang thing?”

The Rice series provided an early confidence boost. The Wildcats would win two of three at the Tony Gwynn Classic the following weekend. They finished the preseason with a 12-4 record.

“I think after that series is when we all looked at each other like, ‘Hey, we kinda got something here,’ ” Cloney said. “We may not win the Pac. We may not be the No. 1 team in the nation. But we can compete with everybody. We can stand our own ground.”

Pac-12 play provided other meaningful milestones. Arizona scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat UCLA 6-5 on March 26, securing a series win over a perennial powerhouse. Dalbec delivered the walk-off double.

“I had so much respect for Coach (John) Savage and UCLA’s program,” Johnson said. “It felt like a big deal.”

The series win was just the second vs. the Bruins since 2005. Arizona had similar struggles vs. Oregon State — but swept the Beavers in a three-game series in early May to improve to 31-16, 14-10.

The Wildcats seemed to be in great shape to end their NCAA Tournament drought. Then they hit a speed bump.

Arizona lost two of three at home vs. Arizona State. The UA then dropped the first two games of a three-game set at Oregon. With one game left in conference play, uncertainty crept in. A tournament berth wasn’t guaranteed.

Johnson’s message to the team revealed his new-school approach — and stood in stark contrast to Lopez’s, well, old-school approach. Gibbons was among the players who experienced both.

“Any other coach would just come in and rip us and tell us we're playing horrible,” Gibbons said. “Jay brought us together, and it was kind of a different sit-down. It was like, ‘Hey, I know you guys aren't playing good. You guys know you aren’t playing good. ... I'm aware. I know you're aware. So let's figure it out.’

“He wouldn't get all over you. (He would) tell you what he sees and how to fix it. Lopez’s approach was, ‘You need to fix it now.’ But I loved both of (them).”

That particular anecdote was one of several I didn’t know (or didn’t remember) despite covering that team from start to finish. Johnson mentioned a team motto, “Back on track” — i.e., “Get Arizona baseball back on track.” Gibbons told me about running up the steps at Hi Corbett Field after Sunday games with Dalbec, JJ Matijevic and Nathan Bannister; about hitting in the cages with Dalbec, Cody Ramer and others until 10 at night; about his and Ramer’s cleats melting on the boiling turf in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Yes, Arizona did make it to the NCAA Tournament, finishing the regular season with a six-game winning streak against Oregon, Abilene Christian and Hawaii. The Wildcats’ first postseason stop was in Cajun country.

Passing the test

The official game-time temperature for the last of three games against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns at Tigue Moore Field was 87 degrees. It wasn’t a dry heat.

“The heat was absolutely insane,” Cloney said. “The humidity had to have been in the 80-90% (range). I remember warming up in a swarm of bees in the bullpen. It was wild.

“I think it was just a test, really. ... It's sticky, it's muggy, there's bees everywhere, the fans hate you. It was a real test.”

The Lafayette Regional featured a five-hour weather delay on Friday and a rainout Saturday. After losing to host Louisiana on Sunday afternoon, Arizona had to win three elimination games over two days to advance. The Wildcats thrived under that pressure — if they even felt it. They also won three elimination games in Omaha to reach the CWS finals.

“The whole season, it just came down to that looseness,” Cloney said. “It was another game — go out, compete.”

Cloney and his fellow pitchers took that mentality to the mound. A core group — led by Cloney, Bannister, Dalbec, Ginkel and Cameron Ming — delivered again and again in the postseason. Cloney credited pitching coach Dave Lawn’s guidance.

“There really wasn't much pressure to do anything but (be) who you were,” Cloney said. “Lawny instilled that (in) us from the get-go, and that freedom allowed us to go out and be us and not try and do too much.

“When you have freedom from your coaching staff ... you're more likely to be confident, and you end up being a lot more successful.”

That freedom extended to the dugout. Pitcher Robby Medel kept the bench active and energized. He and fellow hurler Tyler Crawford co-fronted trios that made viral music videos, lip-syncing to the Goo Goo Dolls and O.A.R. and using bats as faux-guitars.

“It was just a fun time,” Gibbons said.

After defeating Sam Houston State 6-5, Arizona swept Louisiana on Monday, allowing just four runs. With Mississippi State on tap and just three days between games, the Wildcats bused to Starkville. A new challenge awaited there — a full-throated SEC crowd of nearly 13,000.

Dalbec was utterly unfazed. He threw 8⅔ shutout innings, silencing the throng and overcoming a 37-minute delay because of a power outage in the eighth. Ming struck out Jake Mangum on three pitches to earn the save in a 1-0 win.

The next game mirrored that UCLA comeback. Arizona, the designated home team, trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the eighth. The Wildcats scored three in the bottom half and one in the ninth to tie the score. They won it in the 11th on freshman catcher Cesar Salazar’s walk-off single.

On to Omaha.

90 feet away

How good was Arizona’s pitching at the CWS? The Wildcats yielded six runs in their first six games, going 5-1. That included a 3-0 victory over Coastal Carolina in the opener of the best-of-three final series. Cloney threw a complete-game shutout. He didn’t allow a run in 16 innings in Omaha.

The next night, the bullpen proved human. The Chanticleers scored three runs off Ming and Alfonso Rivas III in the eighth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Arizona scored two in the bottom half to make it a one-run game. That’s how it ended.

The margin would be the same in the finale, which was delayed a day by another rainout. But it was so much more painful.

Arizona fell behind 4-0 in the sixth inning when the normally reliable Ramer — a first-team All-Pac-12 selection — made two errors on one play. Two runs scored. Two more came home on a homer off Dalbec, who squeezed Ramer’s shoulder and rubbed his back during a mound visit before exiting the game.

It was a lovely gesture and captured how Ramer’s teammates felt about him.

“When we went back into the locker room, he apologized and it kind of broke a lot of people,” Gibbons said. “But it's baseball. The dude was lights out all year.”

As so often happened that season, Arizona rallied. The Wildcats scored two runs in the bottom half on Jared Oliva’s two-RBI single.

The score remained 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Louis Boyd drew a one-out walk. Ramer — who went 3 for 4 — singled, pushing Boyd to third. Gibbons scored him with a sacrifice fly.

With Ramer still at first, Ryan Aguilar sliced a double into the left-field corner. Johnson was coaching third base and desperately wanted to send Ramer. But Coastal executed the relay perfectly. Johnson had to hold him.

That brought up Ryan Haug, the Wildcats’ backup catcher who’d been pressed into action when Salazar got hit in the head with a backswing earlier in the game. Haug worked the count to 3-2 before striking out swinging on a fastball just off the outside corner.

A single would have tied the game. It might have won the national championship.

“It was definitely a tough way to end, but it was also an awesome experience,” Gibbons said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Johnson said he’d relive that entire season if he could. He’d just like to change the ending.

“I would give anything to go back and change the results of the last game that would have made those guys national champions,” Johnson said. “They'll always be national champions to me.”