With trips to Baylor, Long Beach State and Round Rock, Texas under its belt, the Arizona baseball team is a little less intimidated by its first Pac-10 road trip.
"If we hadn't been in a few tough places prior to this, I'd probably be a little more concerned," head coach Andy Lopez said. "You have to play well no matter where you go."
The Wildcats (13-11-1, 2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) travel to Corvallis, Ore., this weekend to play their first road series of the conference season against Oregon State (16-7, 2-1). Arizona plays the Beavers today at 6 p.m. and tomorrow and Sunday at noon. All games will be played at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.
"It will be a big test for us because it is our first Pac-10 series on the road," freshman shortstop Jason Donald said. "We need to perform well going into a hostile environment, and to win a series or even sweep would be very big for us."
Lopez said he believes the tough nonconference schedule prepares the Wildcats for tougher competition as well as the effects of playing on the road.
Thus far, the Wildcats are 4-5 on the road after a series win over Baylor and taking two of three in Round Rock. But they were swept by Long Beach State in Southern California two weeks ago.
"We'd like to be doing better than we have shown up to this point, but (our nonconference schedule) has gotten us a lot better-prepared to play the tough Pac-10 schedule," Donald said.
Arizona, which was 5-7 last season in Pac-10 road games, enters the series coming off a 2-1 series win over Washington State last weekend in Tucson.
The team broke out of a bit of a slump Sunday, scoring 11 runs and getting the clutch hits the team missed in its first two contests against WSU.
"When you hit, the game's easier," Lopez said. "On the other side of the coin, when you pitch it's easier, too."
The Wildcats will start junior Koley Kolberg (3-2, 3.27 ERA) today and will use Kevin Guyette (4-3, 5.72 ERA) tomorrow. Sunday's starter is still undetermined.
Kolberg and Guyette earned wins last weekend against the Cougars, and sophomore Luis Cortez was pulled from his spot as the Saturday starter after a rough 2/3 inning performance in which he gave up four runs on just one hit.
Oregon State took two out of three at California last weekend.
The Beavers are led offensively by sophomore Jacob Ellsbury. Ellsbury is hitting .418, the third best batting average in the Pac-10, and he leads the league in stolen bases with 12.
On the mound, the Wildcats will face OSU's ace in senior Jake Postlewait, who is undefeated (6-0) in seven starts. Postlewait has tallied 28 strikeouts against just 15 walks in 41 innings of work.
Arizona comes back to Tucson next week and will play a mid-week exhibition Tuesday against the Tucson Sidewinders, followed by a weekend series against UCLA.