Arizona Wins Opener of College World Series

Arizona (47-17) defeated South Carolina (49-19) in the first game of the College World Series tonight by a score of 5-1.  The Wildcats can win their first World Series Championship in 26 years tomorrow night when the two teams meet again at 8:00 pm ET.  The World Series is a best of three-game format.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Robert Refsnyder hit a two-run homerun that scored Johnny Field who had singled as the second batter of the game.  The runs came off losing pitcher Forrest Koumas (2-3) who was making his fifth start of the season.  Koumas did start the first game of last year’s championship game against Florida but only went 2.3 innings tonight giving up three runs with two being earned.

The homerun would be all the runs that starter Konner Wade would need.  Wade went the distance giving up just six hits and one earned run.  It was the third straight complete game for Wade who improved to 11-3 on the season.

Alex Mejia increased the Arizona lead to 3-0 with an RBI single that scored Trent Gilbert.  Arizona made it 4-0 in the fifth inning on a single by Seth Mejias-Brean.  They would score their final run in the seventh inning on a RBI single by Bobby Brown.

South Carolina scored their only run in the game in the sixth inning when Evan Marzilli singled home Grayson Greiner with two outs.  The Gamecocks will look to stave off elimination tomorrow night to force a third game.  South Carolina is looking to win their third straight championship.

Check out Raymond Mencke’s blog at www.sportissue.com. Also follow him on Twitter @RaymondMenckeJr,

Follow the site on Twitter @Autzen_Zoo, and check us out on Facebook on the Autzen Zoo page.