CHRYSTAL McCONNELL/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona outfielder Jeff Van Houten watches one of his five hits on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats won over BYU 32-3.

Arizona morphed its meager offense into a high-octane machine overnight.

The Wildcats bombed Brigham Young University 32-3 Saturday and 17-13 Friday to rebound from Thursday's season-opening loss. Arizona pounded out 32 hits and capitalized on 10 Cougar errors to clinch the series on Saturday. The blitzing offense was a sharp contrast from the 11 strike-out performance on Thursday.

"I don't think it was anything anybody did, except we played again," head coach Andy Lopez said. "I really believe it's a talented young group of people but they're still young."

It was the underclassmen who led the offense's conga line Saturday. In his first start of the season, sophomore catcher Rick Mercado went six-for-seven with three RBIs, and freshman third baseman Trevor Crowe went five-for-seven with a double and two RBIs. Freshman designated hitter Derek Decater went four-for-five with two triples and a home run.

"I was very anxious to get playing because it's no fun sitting on the bench," said Mercado, who scored five runs on Saturday.

Sophomore right fielder Jeff Van Houten went five-for-seven with five RBIs. Every UA player in the batting order had at least one hit and one run scored in the onslaught.

Van Houten said he noticed a trend in the Mr. Hyde-like offense over the last two games.

"We weren't staying back on the curveball and adjusting to the fastball. In these games we were trying to get base hits and get some rallies going," he said.

Everyday shortstop John Hardy did not play in Saturday's game because of a tender elbow. Regular second baseman Moises Duran filled in for the injured Hardy at the position. Freshman Lee Franklin made his collegiate debut at second with a single and two runs scored.

On Friday Arizona (2-1) fell behind 7-1 but clawed back to an 8-4 deficit. After a four-run fifth inning which tied the score, UA went on to score nine runs over the next three innings to coast to victory. Freshman left fielder Brad Boyer led the Arizona lineup with four hits. BYU (1-2) made things interesting by scoring four runs in the top of the ninth.

Lopez said the team hasn't matured yet.

"They've now (become) accustomed to practice speed and inter-squad speed, but now we're trying to get them accustomed to game speed against an opponent in Division I baseball, and I think that just comes with playing," he said.

The Wildcats will continue their homestand this week against Baylor on Friday at Sancet Field.