FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman Trevor Crowe steals second base against Portland earlier this season. Crowe is one of six Wildcats that has tallied double-digit steals this season (11). The Wildcats have already buried last season's mark and are nearly on pace to top the school record of 150.

ÎCats success depends on ability to move on bases

When UA head coach Andy Lopez needs a formula for success, he only needs to look out from Sancet Field toward McKale Center, the home of Lute Olson's powerhouse basketball program that lies right across Enke Drive.

That's where he realized that speed kills.

"I like to use the analogy of college basketball. I love college basketball styles like Coach Olson's, and other programs that push the ball up quickly and press in transition," Lopez says. "I enjoy putting pressure on the defense, and from the day I started coaching, I've wanted to do that. So everywhere I've gone, I've recruited speed and utilized it."

And this year's Wildcat baseball team öö the first to feature players Lopez recruited öö is a testament to thatphilosophy.

The 2003 Wildcats became the 10th team in Arizona's 100-year baseball history to steal 100 bases in a single season on Monday when Moises Duran stole second and third base for the team's 99th and 100th stolen base of the season öö with 17 games still left on the schedule.

Freshman Brad Boyer and junior Terrence Taylor, both Lopez recruits, stole a base apiece later in the game to push the team total to 102 and raise their individual totals to 16 and 11, respectively, good enough for second and fourth in the Pacific 10 Conference.

"I'm the leadoff guy, and my role is to get on base, steal second and put myself in scoring position for someone to hit me in," Boyer says. "I think that's the vital part to our team: We have so many guys that can run. Everyone is decent or plus speed, which puts a lot of pressure on the defense and helps us get in scoring position."

In all, Wildcats occupy six of the top nine spots in the conference steals race. One year after only two players öö former shortstop Brad Hassey and Duran öö logged double-digit steal totals, six current Wildcats have 10 or more.

The 2003 Arizona squad has already stolen 18 more bases than last year's, and Lopez has spurred his team to almost double the steal total from the year before he arrived, when the Wildcats stole just 52 bases in 2001.

Learning on the fly

A large part of the team's newfound speed has come from the infusion of freshmen and transfers Lopez culled from the high school and juco ranks. Newcomers have accounted for 54 percent of the team's steals so far.

"Last year was a little different because I didn't get a chance to recruit any of those guys," Lopez says. "This year, we went out and recruited speed, and now we're utilizing it."

Besides Boyer, freshman Trevor Crowe and Taylor are among the most utilized of the first-year Wildcats. Crowe, a top-100 high school prospect, has racked up 11 steals so far. Taylor, the single-season and career steals leader at College of Marin (Calif.), has swiped 11 bases while appearing in 17 games and reaching base just 31 times.

And the newcomers show no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

"Usually, I have the green light," Boyer says. "(Whether I steal) depends on if I'm reading the pitcher and I know his time down to first, so I can get into a rhythm. I have a green light, but if I have the rhythm, then I'll go."

Quicker with age

But a few of the names near the top of the steals column seem out of place. Sophomore first baseman Pat Reilly attempted just four steals, all successful, in his freshman campaign, but has amassed 10 steals so far this year.

The speed bug must have spread down the hall to his roommate, junior Brian Anderson, as well. Anderson has 11 stolen bases this year, five more than last season.

"I think Lopez really emphasizes being quick and being aggressive and anticipating on the base paths, which allows us to steal more bases," Anderson says. "I'm getting a lot more steal attempts. I feel like I'm a better base stealer this year than I was last year."

Lopez says hard work in the offseason paid off for the duo.

"We told them, ÎThis is going to be our offense. You need to lose some weight, get your body fat down and be ready to run.'"

Running up the score

The speed explosion hasn't just elevated the individual statistics, either. The players and coaches both agreed that a faster team has meant more scoring and more wins.

Arizona currently sits fifth in the NCAA for runs per game, at 9.5.

"I think (team speed) has led to a lot more run-scoring," Anderson says. "It helps a lot as a hitter if you can move up on the base paths without having to be sacrificed over or hit over öö it makes it a lot easier to score."

With 26 wins and 17 games remaining on the schedule, this year's team is also poised to well exceed last year's win total of 31, a trend Lopez credits at least in part to speedier players.

"You can't steal first, obviously, so that means you're stealing and you're putting yourself in scoring position," he says.

Breaking records

By the time the Wildcats are done, this year's team may go down as the fastest in Arizona history.

The year's average of just over 2.6 steals per game puts it on pace to threaten the all-time UA mark of 150, set by the 1985 squad. At their current rate, the Wildcats would finish the season with 146 steals.

Steals records aren't the only ones in danger from UA's fleet feet. With five more triples, the single-season Pac-10 record öö held by the 1986 College World Series champion UA team öö would fall.

Arizona runners have been taking extra bases all year, well surpassing last year's team totals for doubles and shattering last year's triples mark by 14. In all, 37 percent of UA's hits have gone for extra bases.

Individually, Boyer says he's shooting for the Pac-10 steals title. He currently trails Arizona State's Steve Garrabrants, who has played in 13 more games, by one.

"I think that's definitely one of my goals," he says.

In fact, this year's Wildcats are so much faster that they now identify themselves as a "speed" team.

"I think our team survives on team speed," Anderson says. "We're so fast öö we have to steal bases, because we're not really known as a power team, even though we've had good power numbers this year."

But Lopez says he knows better than to get caught up in any speed-related statistic except the most important one: wins.

"(Stealing bases) allows people to move over and score runs," Lopez says. "As we all know, if you score runs, you've got a better chance of winning."