Arizona baseball uses 9th-inning rally to win opener at Oklahoma State

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Arizona could have mailed it in for the final weekend of the regular season, knowing its chances to make the Big 12 Tournament were slim and required help from others. Instead it chose to keep fighting.

The Wildcats scored three runs in the top of the 9th inning to win 7-4 at Oklahoma State on Thursday night, just the fourth time in 10 conference series they’ve taken the opener. And combined with Texas Tech’s loss at Cincinnati they moved into a tie for the final spot in next week’s Big 12 tourney.

Freshman Caleb Danzeisen gave the UA the lead for good with a sacrifice fly after Arizona (19-32, 9-19) loaded the bases with no out, then senior Mathis Meurant added insurance with a 2-out, 2-run double. Meurant tied the game in the 8th with a solo home run after Oklahoma State (34-19, 16-12) went ahead 4-3 in the 7th.

Meurant had three hits as did Andrew Cain, who reached base five times. Arizona had 12 hits and 21 baserunners but stranded 11 through the first six innings yet led 3-0.

Senior left-hander Luc Fladda took a no-hitter into the 6th before OSU got a solo homer. Fladda then allowed a 3-run homer in the 7th to the Cowboys, who finished with four hits.

Righty Corey Kling threw the final two frames, stranding the go-ahead ahead run at second in the 8th before going 1-2-3 in the 9th to get the win.

Arizona, which is tied for 12th with Texas Tech but also a game back of 11th-place Kansas State, must finish a game ahead of either since both own a tiebreaker. The Wildcats would need to win one more game than Tech or two more than K-State to get into the Big 12 Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Surprise.

Junior righty Owen Kramkowski will start for the UA at 4 p.m. PT Friday.