SURPRISE—Arizona began last season with three consecutive losses but ended up making it to the College World Series. Something to consider when evaluating the first result of the season.
The Wildcats dropped their 2026 opener on Friday night, losing 10-7 to Stanford at Surprise Stadium. It snapped a 6-game win streak against their former Pac-12 rivals.
Arizona pitchers combined to issue seven walks, something they only did four times all of last season. Three of those were by starter Owen Kramkowski, a career high for the junior right-hander, who didn’t make it out of the 4th inning.
Stanford also stole six bases, part of an inauspicious UA debut behind the plate for catcher Roman Meyers, who also was charged with catcher’s interference that led to the Cardinal’s first run.
“Those are things we’ve got to take care of,” said UA coach Chip Hale, who laid equal blame on UA pitchers not being quick enough to the plate. “We’ve got to be more accountable. Teams last year I think were a little leery to run on us with (Adonys Guzman) behind the plate, he had a good reputation. And Roman throws as well as anybody in the country, we just have to give him a chance.”
Arizona had 11 hits, its most in a season opener since 2019, but also struck out 15 times. The Wildcats had won 28 consecutive games when scoring at least seven runs including 24-0 in 2025.
Kramkowski, who is a projected high draft pick, allowed five runs (four earned) in 3.1 innings. He gave up six hits but three were not well hit.
“He threw way too many pitches in the first couple innings,” Hale said. “I think there was probably what, four balls that literally were squibbers, bloopers. It just adds up on his pitch count, and the first time out, we’re not gonna let him go past the 80-pitch mark. He was not at all as effective as he was last year.”
But Kramkowski was off the hook after Arizona scored three in the bottom of the 4th to tie it at 5. Oregon State transfer Carson McEntire had an RBI single and Milwaukee transfer Tyler Bickers followed with a 2-run single.
Stanford broke it open with a 5-run 6th against a pair of transfer relievers. Nolan Straniero walked three and allowed a 2-run triple, leaving down 8-5, then lefty Patrick Morris gave up a 2-run homer.
The UA got two back in the bottom of the 6th on back-to-back homers by Meyers and McEntire, though Meyers’ shot was almost erased. Stanford appealed to second base saying Meyers missed the bag, with the 2B umpire calling him out, but Hale challenged and the call was overturned.
The UA couldn’t do anything else at the plate after that, despite three scoreless innings of relief from senior Matthew Martinez with seven strikeouts. The Wildcats got the leadoff man on in the 7th and 9th, doing so in all but two innings, but also struck out seven times in the last three frames.
“I think we battled, we gave ourselves a chance,” Hale said. “They threw a couple freshmen that we didn’t have any info on, and they did terrific. They outplayed us tonight.”
Bickers, McEntire, Meyers and Andrew Cain each had two hits, with Bickers and McEntire driving in two runs each. McEntire, a Peoria native, was playing on the same field where he made his collegiate debut last season with Oregon State.
“I thought it was a good game overall,” McEntire said. “There’s some stuff that we work on as a team, and me personally, that I will go down and talk to some coaches about and see what we can do better tomorrow.”
McEntire and his new team will be facing his old team on Saturday, as the Wildcats get the Beavers at 2 p.m. MT. OSU, which lost 5-3 to Michigan on Friday, regularly begins its season at Surprise Stadium and the vast majority of the 5,683 in attendance for the day were wearing orange.
“The Beavs come out and show this place out every year,” McEntire said. “This is a thing for them, and it’s awesome to see their fans.”
Sophomore righty Smith Bailey will start for Arizona against OSU lefty Ethan Kleinschmit.
