Smith Bailey's Start Spoiled; Wildcats Eliminated

With the completion of the opening round of the College World Series, four teams trotted toward the winner’s bracket while four other teams hoped to stave off elimination.  In the first elimination contest in Omaha, the Big 12 Tournament Champion Arizona Wildcats squared off with the Louisville Cardinals.  The Wildcats fell to red-hot Coastal Carolina in game one of the 2025 CWS, whereas Louisville reached this disposition after falling in a thriller against Oregon State.

At a humid Charles Schwab Field, in an effort to extend their season, Arizona trusted Freshman right-hander Smith Bailey on the mound.  Bailey, making his 17th start of the season, entered the contest with a 4.01 ERA, striking out 76 across 83 innings of work.  The Peoria, AZ native looked to extend his run of quality starts, throwing at least five innings in five straight outings, including three in postseason play between the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments.  

In spite of his youthfulness in age and College World Series experience, Bailey found familiarity in the Cardinals, despite their unfamiliar conference allegiance.  Bailey made the first start of his collegiate career against the Cardinals in February, giving up three base hits and striking out five in four innings of work.  

Despite the notable debut, Bailey’s outing at Globe Life Field had been spoiled by a surge of Cardinal runs, capping Arizona’s winless weekend at Globe Life Field as the Wildcats fell 13-1.  Still, Bailey felt confident ahead of the rematch, “I had a little bit more confidence coming into this outing just knowing that the first game was a little bit successful. So I think that was pretty good.”

Louisville Senior Kamau Neighbors felt the approach against Smith was simple, and one that’s primarily mental.  “Our mindset as an offense is we play against the thing in between our ears and the baseball. Obviously we have a scouting report, but our preparation, we're trying to move the ball with two strikes. We're trying to be aggressive, take what the defense gives us”, Neighbors continued “I wouldn't say it's necessarily we remember anything like that (from their previous outing against Smith), but our approach stayed the same.”

In his outing in Omaha on Sunday, the Freshman showed maturity, allowing just one run in his six innings.  The Freshman pitched into the seventh for the first time in his young career.  Bailey tallied four strikeouts, permitting two Louisville runs via two walks and seven base hits.  

Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonell gushed over the righty’s performance, “Man, that guy's good. And we've seen back-to-back freshmen. That's a four-pitch mix. I don't remember doing damage against him at Globe Life when we played him. I think when we knocked him out we got to the bullpen. But today he was tough. The ability to throw offspeed what you would think is fastball counts. And that's an impressive year for anybody, but especially a freshman.”

In a twist of fate, though, the Wildcats felt continued familiarity against the Cardinal lineup, this time in an uncomfortable fashion.  After allowing the Cardinals to produce a lone run in the seventh, disaster struck relievers Garrett Hicks and Tony Pluta in the eighth.  The Cardinals combined for eight runs when they needed it most, utilizing singles and Wildcat defensive miscues to rally for a lead and eventual insurance.  

Of the errors and general odd occurrences of the disaster in the 8th inning, Hale stated “It's college baseball. It's a sport, and the ball bounces funky ways. We have to live with it. We got some great breaks along the way, too.”

Louisville utilized five innings of shutout relief from Wyatt Danilowicz and Tucker Biven to maintain the 8-3 advantage and end Arizona’s postseason run.  The Wildcats finished the 2025 season with a 44-21 record, celebrating a Big 12 Tournament championship in their inaugural season in the league.  

Despite the loss, Bailey is able to see how the success of the 2025 team, and his immediate success in a Wildcat uniform, gives this program immeasurable momentum.  “I think it's something that everyone can look at, recruits can maybe look at and see that Vance and John and all the coaches have done a great job with development.”