LUBBOCK, Texas – Alfonso Rivas homered in the 12th inning and Arizona beat Delaware 6-5 in an elimination game Saturday at the Lubbock Regional.

The Wildcats (38-20), who went to the NCAA World Series last season, blew a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning. They then had to withstand a Delaware rally, a nearly 2 1/2-hour rain delay in extra innings and having a runner thrown out at the plate to end the 11th.

Cesar Salazar drove in three runs for Arizona. His RBI single in the sixth produced the game’s first run and his two-run single in the seventh made it 5-1.

Juan Aguilera (1-0), the fifth Arizona pitcher, went the final two innings and worked around a single and a walk in the 12th inning. Burk FitzPatrick (2-1) worked the last three innings for Delaware.

The Blue Hens (34-23), in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, forced extra innings after Jeremy Ake’s two-run single with two outs in the eighth, and Jordan Glover’s two-run single with two outs in the ninth.