The Arizona baseball team will try to continue its dominance of California schools at home against UC Irvine this weekendafter going 5-1 against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton in the first two series of the season.
The No. 13 Wildcats (5-1, 0-0 Pacific 10 Conference) will open the series today at 3 p.m. at Sancet Stadium against the Anteaters. The three-game set continues tomorrow and Sunday at 1 p.m.
In taking two out of three games from Fullerton last weekend, the Wildcats shot up two spots in a pair of ranking services, but head coach Andy Lopez said the team must not have a letdown this weekend.
"I told our guys, 'Don't think there's a weekend on (our schedule) when you don't have to play well. You have to play well every weekend,'" Lopez said. "Irvine is a good program and comes from a good conference."
For the third weekend in a row, the Wildcats will play a team from the Big West Conference.
The Anteaters (3-2) beat Fresno State 5-3 Tuesday and took two of three games from California last weekend.
Arizona played Irvine last season and swept the Anteaters, outscoring them 16-1 over the three games. The wins stretched the team's winning streak over Irvine to seven games, dating back to 1988.
Arizona scored at least 10 runs in all three games last weekend, and with its productive offensive lineup, hopes to continue the trend against Irvine.
"We know that our offense is one of our strong points," sophomore outfielder Brad Boyer said. "We don't put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but we expect it."
The Wildcats knew they would have a tough lineup coming into the season, but the way several freshmen are hitting at the plate has made Arizona that much more dangerous.
Freshmen Jason Donald, D.J. Lewis and Bill Rhinehart are putting up big numbers through the first three games and have all earned a spot in the batting order.
"When we recruited them, we told them that they were going to come here and play," Lopez said. "They have done a good job as freshmen."
Donald leads the team in home runs (3), RBIs (13) and runs scored (9), while Lewis put up solid numbers in his first weekend as a designated hitter, going 3-for-7 with 4 RBIs against the Titans.
"You have to be good offensively," Lopez said. "We definitely have to be on our mark when it comes to an offensive approach right now."
The Wildcats know they have the ability to score runs, but will have to get more production out of their pitching staff if they want to continue their success.
Lopez will go with the same rotation he sent out in the first two series, throwing junior Koley Kolberg today, sophomore Kevin Guyette tomorrow and sophomore Luis Cortez Sunday.
Arizona will take its first road trip of the year Tuesday when it travels to Tempe to play Arizona State at 7 p.m.
"Each series, we want to keep improving," Boyer said. "We want to get better."