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None of them was recruited by Hale.

With the UA’s final home series on tap Friday through Sunday vs. Utah, those three four-year Wildcats — Garen Caulfield, Tommy Splaine and Eric Orloff — revealed their recruiting origin stories. Each took a unique path to Tucson.

Caulfield was , on May 22, 2021. Just over a month later, Jay Johnson left Arizona to become the head coach at LSU.

Caulfield — who’d spent the previous two seasons at San Joaquin Delta College but didn’t play because of COVID-related cancellations — was worried that he wouldn’t have a spot. Fortunately, the one coach from Johnson’s staff who remained at Arizona, Dave Lawn, made sure he would.

“I gotta give credit to Dave Lawn for keeping me on board here when Chip wasn’t even hired,� said Caulfield, Arizona’s starting second baseman for most of the past four seasons. “I was in a bad spot with no other real opportunities and potentially being a third-year juco guy, which I did not want to do.

“This was a dream come true for me, being able to play Pac-12 and now Big 12 baseball.�

Johnson became LSU’s coach on June 25. Arizona hired Hale on July 5. A phone conversation with the new skipper put Caulfield’s mind at ease.

“He called me like an hour or two after he got hired, and ever since that phone call, I knew it was someone I wanted to go to battle for,� Caulfield said.

“He's a very personable guy, and you could tell he's gonna be a player's coach right away. And coming from a juco where it was a lot of yelling and screaming and that type of coaching, I knew that was something I wanted.�

Splaine has known he wanted to be a Wildcat for a long time. His father, Teague, attended Arizona.

“I always grew up a U of A fan,� said Splaine, who’s from Northern California. “It was my dream to come here.�

Splaine committed to Arizona in December 2018 — when he was a sophomore at Los Gatos High School. College offers could go out earlier back then, and Splaine knew where he wanted to go. Attending a camp here clinched it.

By the time Splaine was ready to attend the UA, Johnson was gone.

“But I knew Chip was a U of A guy,� said Splaine, Arizona’s starting first baseman and backup catcher. “We talked during the summer ... and built a relationship, along with Toby (DeMello, Arizona’s hitting coach).

“I just had trust in what he was building, and I wanted to come here regardless. It’s U of A. You know what you're gonna get here. I don't regret it at all.�

While Caulfield and Splaine are from California — prime recruiting territory for UA baseball — Orloff is from Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Johnson and his then-pitching coach, Nate Yeskie, discovered Orloff in an unusual way.

“I was probably one of the only guys where COVID kind of helped my recruiting process,� said Orloff, a left-handed reliever. “Because everything went digital; (the industry) put it all on video. I threw at a . It was the first time an Arizona coach ever saw me throw. Threw 11 pitches, three strikeouts. And committed three days later.�

Most of Orloff’s offers were from schools in the Midwest. that he’d never been “west of St. Louis� before committing to Arizona.

Orloff said he “never had a second thought� about switching schools despite the coaching change. Hale is grateful that all three players decided to give him a chance — and to stick around.

“In this day and age of college sports, it's hard to get guys to stay,� Hale said. “These guys have been very solid. They're going to earn their degrees, and I'm very proud of that.�

Hits and misses

Hale has waited all season for Arizona’s offense to click. It hasn’t happened with any consistency.

Despite Brendan Summerhill returning to the lineup, the Wildcats had just five hits in a 5-2 loss to Grand Canyon on Tuesday. Since they defeated the Lopes 14-4 on April 15, the Cats have batted just .253.

They’re hitting .282 for the season, up slightly from last season’s .278. Their OPS also has improved, going from .801 to .832. But Hale and his staff expected a bigger jump.

“We've come to the realization that our offense is not what we thought it was going to be to start the year, and we're going to have to figure out other ways to win,� Hale said.

“We thought after last year, going through some tough times with some young hitters, that we would be better for it this year. We thought the offense would lead the way ... and it hasn't.

“We've had some clutch hitting along the way, and we won some conference games because of it. But overall, no.

“We still have a chance to do better. It's not going to help their season numbers, but they can have good numbers going into the playoffs.�

Caulfield ranks third on the team with 34 RBIs, but his average has fallen from .310 last year to .267. Regarding the UA offense overall, Caulfield said:

“I can't pinpoint it, to be honest with you. We feel like we have a great team and a great lineup, and we've had games where we've proven that. And we've had games that we wonder, ‘What the hell is going on?’�

Splaine said each individual batter needs to compete harder and come to the ballpark with a plan of attack, especially with only two regular-season series remaining.

“Each weekend at this point is basically like a regional,� Splaine said. “Every game is a must-win. I believe we play the best in those moments.

“At this point of the year ... we're not playing for stats; we’re playing for wins.�

Summerhill's status

Summerhill started in right field at GCU, his first appearance in the outfield since March 23, when he broke his right hand at West Virginia.

Summerhill served as the DH vs. UT Arlington and Texas Tech on April 23 and 26 but suffered a hamstring injury against the Red Raiders and missed most of the next week-plus.

Summerhill was due up with runners on first and second and the score tied, 2-2, in the seventh vs. GCU, but Hale subbed him out.

“We let him play as long as we could,� Hale said. “He had a ball that was hit to him, and he went after it awkwardly ... and was stretching out. At that point I said, ‘He had three at-bats. That's enough.’ Hopefully he'll be good for this weekend.�

Inside pitch

– The other four players expected to be acknowledged on Senior Day Sunday are infielder Richie Morales and right-handed relievers Raul Garayzar, Matthew Martinez and Julian Tonghini. Morales hasn’t played since April 15 because of a hip injury that could jeopardize his availability for the postseason.

– On paper, No. 22 Arizona (33-15, 15-9 Big 12) has a sizable advantage vs. last-place Utah (18-25, 5-19). Hale isn’t assuming anything. “This is a dangerous team,� he said. “We've played them every year in the Pac-12, and they pretty much have the same offense that we've seen; they have a lot of the (same) pitchers. We went up there last year and struggled in the Friday game and came back and won two. But they're going to play their best baseball down here.�

– Arizona is sticking with the same rotation as last week: RHPs Owen Kramkowski (7-3, 4.69), Collin McKinney (0-1, 3.49) and Smith Bailey (1-3, 4.70). Utah will start right-hander Colter McAnelly (3-4, 3.66) on Friday and righty Merit Jones (2-6, 7.36) on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is TBA.

–ÂÌ̲¹³Ù³¦³ó±ð°ù Adonys Guzman has struggled to throw out baserunners recently. Many of his throws to second base have tailed or sailed. Hale said Guzman is feeling the effects of a long season and might need to DH in one of the weekend games. Hale also said the pitching staff needs to do a better job of holding runners. “We talked about that — a little quicker to the plate, give him a chance,â€� Hale said. “I think sometimes, when he feels like the guy gets such a big jump, he rushes and his throw is not accurate.â€�

– Orloff on the stretch run for Arizona: “Obviously, I've been around for a little bit. When you get to (the) playoffs, you gotta get hot. A lot of times, not even the best team wins; the hottest team wins. ... It's just getting everything rolling at the right time. I think it's a good time to do it.�