Arizona head coach Andy Lopez was pleased with his team's efforts even though the Wildcats dropped two of three on the road against defending national champion Texas.

"It was a real positive experience. I received positive quotes from the (UT) fans and from the (Longhorn) coaching staff," Lopez said. "Our team didn't come close to embarrassing themselves."

It will serve as a jumping-off point as Arizona (12-7) begins a stretch of five games in five days that will heavily tax the pitching staff but gives Lopez an opportunity to experiment with closing role.

"I haven't given up on Rodriguez, but I'll try Mark Worrell, John Meloan and Wes Zlotoff," he said. "I believe one of those guys will be fine."

Zlotoff redshirted and missed all of last season with arm problems and has been used sparingly this season.

The starting rotation is also in the question with the recent addition of Kevin Guyette. The freshman had two quality starts as the third starter in place of the injured Richie Gardner.

Arizona opens a two-game series against Portland (4-9) today.

The Pilots' last game was suspended in the top of the eighth inning, losing 9-0 against Oregon State leading 9-0. The game will be finished April 1.

Today's game against Portland begins at 3 p.m. at Sancet Field. Worrell (0-2, 11.05) will start on the mound for the Wildcats to give him needed work, Lopez said.

Though this week's opponents are not the same caliber as Texas, keeping sharp will be key for Arizona, as it was the little things that prevented the Wildcats from taking the series from the Longhorns öö a set that could have gone either way.

In fact, Arizona was a few fly balls away from taking the series. Both teams each scored the same amount of runs and had the same amount of hits.

Arizona hit a bad stretch in the bottom of the third inning during Sunday's series finale. Center fielder Brian Anderson lost track of a fly ball that hit him in the head as Texas' Omar Quintanilla sped around the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

Anderson again lost sight of another fly ball from the very next batter that led to a triple and another Longhorn run.

"We came within two outs of winning the series but they had an all-American closer, and we're still looking for one," Lopez said.