RYAN CLAY/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona freshman third baseman John Hardy receives congratulation from third base coach Mark Wasikowski after his two-run homer yesterday against California Riverside. The Wildcats won 13-5 to win the series, 2-1.

It seemed as though the Wildcats were two different teams last weekend.

Arizona opened and closed out the three-game set against California Riverside with sound wins, but slumbered through Saturday's game.

UA (27-17) won yesterday 13-5 over the Highlanders (23-19), led by starting pitcher Joe Little.

The sophomore gave up three runs on four hits with six strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the year. He gave up a leadoff single in the first to center fielder Brian Wahlbrink, who was later caught stealing, and retired the next 14 UCR hitters in a row.

Little had been the usual Saturday starter but was moved last weekend to the Sunday slot. He has won both starts on his new day.

"I'm still playing the game but I've come up with a different approach," Little said. "I thought I was the middle guy (in the rotation) but we need to finish strong every series."

Little ran into problems in the sixth when he gave up a leadoff double to second baseman Randy Blood. Two outs and a single later, left fielder Adam Seuss slammed a three-run homer to right center. Little then settled down and struck out catcher Jimmy Anderson to end the inning.

Second baseman Moises Duran singled and stole second in the bottom of the fifth inning with the Wildcats leading 1-0. Left fielder Justyn St. Clair, swinging on a hit-and-run, singled through the hole vacated by UCR third baseman Tony Festa.

Arizona went on to score six more runs in the inning, highlighted by freshman John Hardy's two-run homer to left field on a 3-0 pitch.

"I looked at coach and he gave me the sign to swing away," Hardy said. "I was sitting dead-red fastball and got a good swing on it."

Hardy finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and the home run with three RBIs and the Wildcats coasted the rest of the way.

On Saturday, starting pitcher Marc Kaiser's throwing error opened the door to a six-run fifth inning by the Highlanders, five of which were unearned.

The Wildcats answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, capped by a two-run triple to left center by catcher Chris Cunningham.

UCR came back in the sixth with three runs and knocked out Kaiser when shortstop Scott Powis doubled home the final run of the inning. Kaiser gave up nine runs, four earned, on six hits and five strikeouts.

Head coach Andy Lopez was ejected in the fifth over a close call at the plate.

"I said something I shouldn't have. We've played pretty well this series but forgot to show up Saturday night," Lopez said.

Friday, sophomore Sean Rierson allowed one run and struck out eight to throw his second complete game of the season. Rierson scattered six hits in a crisp two-hour, 19-minute outing.

"It was a good start. Everything went really well and we played some solid defense," Rierson said.

Cunningham went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. He drove in seven runs on four hits with two doubles and a triple.

"I'm not a muscle man because the second that I say that things will change. I'm still working on my average," he said. The senior raised it to .257 with the performance.

Arizona closed out its non-conference schedule and with a 22-9 record. The Wildcats will resume their Pacific 10 Conference schedule against Southern California on Friday.

"This was a big weekend for us. Next weekend we really need to (play) clean because it's going to be a challenge for us," Little said.