WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA first baseman Pat Reilly stretches on a pick-off play to first against Washington this weekend. The Wildcats improved their overall record to 26-12 after taking two of three from the Huskies.

Sometimes, starting pitching doesn't matter ÷ especially when you've got a player who's hitting like Jeff Van Houten is.

Van Houten hit a 3-run homer yesterday to help the Wildcats (26-12, 5-4 Pac-10) recover from a 4-run first-inning deficit and claim their second Pacific-10 Conference series of the season with a 9-4 win against Washington (22-12, 4-5).

"He's been so consistent this year that it's really been a pleasure to watch," head coach Andy Lopez said. "He's going about as good as (any player) I've had for a long time."

The sophomore's third-inning shot put the Wildcats into their first lead of the game at 6-4, a lead the Arizona bullpen would not relinquish.

Van Houten, the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week, continued his recent hot streak with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate and a game-high four RBIs. After three innings, Van Houten had a triple and a home run, but he said he didn't start thinking about hitting for the cycle, even after adding a single later in the game.

"It's happened before, where I got close (to the cycle), but it just never came through," Van Houten said.

Arizona starter Joe Little (4-2) gave up a leadoff home run to UW's Brent Lillibridge, and failed to make it out of the first frame after allowing three more runs and recording just two outs.

Freshman John Meloan (3-0) came in to close out the inning and threw five innings of scoreless relief, allowing five hits and walking four to notch his third win of the season. Fellow frosh Kevin Guyette picked up his second save with three innings of one-hit ball.

Lopez lauded his relief pitching after the comeback win.

"I was really pleased with the (pitching) performances this weekend," Lopez said. "(Little) struggled a little bit, but Meloan did a great job of picking him up, and Guyette was pretty special, too."

Junior Moises Duran hit his seventh homer of the season, a solo shot in the eighth that capped the day's scoring. Junior Brian Anderson chipped in with a 2-for-3 effort and three runs scored.

Saturday, junior pitcher Sean Rierson gave the Arizona bullpen a rest with eight innings of six-hit work in a 13-4 Wildcat win.

Rierson (7-1) allowed three earned runs and struck out six to take the team lead in wins.

Arizona trailed through the first three innings, but pulled ahead in the fourth on a two-run homer from sophomore Richard Mercado.

Friday's night game saw the Wildcats blow multiple opportunities to win, stranding seven runners in scoring position and forfeiting a late two-run lead to fall, 4-3, in 11 innings.

The game's denouement came in odd fashion, as a pick-off attempt from UA reliever Brian Pemble (2-1) got past first baseman Pat Reilly and rolled into foul territory, allowing the Husky runner to score the winning run from first base.

"That was a tough loss Friday night. Great one to win, tough one to lose," Lopez said. "I think it showed a lot of character to go back and play as well as we did the next two days against a very good team."

The Wildcats play a rare non-conference game at 3 this afternoon against Sacramento State before heading to Pullman, Wash., for a weekend set against Washington State.