SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Arizona Wildcats (13-11, 2-4) dropped the final game of their California road trip to the San Diego Aztecs (14-9), 6-4, on Monday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
 
Freshman right-hander George Arias Jr. earned his first career start for the Wildcats and worked 2.2 innings on 44 pitches while striking out three Aztec batters.
 
The Wildcats used seven pitches to cover the remaining innings – six of them posted scoreless outings: Jonathan Guardado (1.1 IP), Gil Luna (1.0 IP), Preston Price (0.2 IP), Randy Abshier (0.1 IP), Vince Vanelle (0.2 IP), and Cameron Haskell (0.1 IP). The scoreless relief crew combined to hold the Aztecs to just two hits and struck out three while keeping the Cats in the game.
 
Arizona also emptied the bench of position players, with 16 different players seeing game action. Each of the first three players in the Wildcats lineup notched a base hit and an RBI, but it was catcher Matthew Dyer who led the charge on offense with a 3-for-4 performance that included a walk.
 
Outfielder Justin Wylie, who played three seasons at San Diego State from 2014-17, collected a base hit and finished the night 1-for-3 in his return to Tony Gwynn Stadium.
 
With the Wildcats facing a tie ballgame in the top of the eighth inning, it was center fielder Donta Williams who drew a bases-loaded walk and put Arizona out in front 4-3. However, the Aztecs would follow with three runs in the bottom of the frame to steal a 6-4 victory.
 
The Wildcats return to Tucson tomorrow and will begin preparations for a three-game weekend series at in-state rival Arizona State that begins on Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. First pitch for game one is set for 7:00 p.m. MST.