WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior pitcher Derek Rodriguez delivers to the plate during the Wildcats' home series against Cal State Fullerton at Sancet Field. Arizona took two of three games from the Titans and jumped into the top-10 in this week's rankings.

After taking two of three games from then-No. 8 Cal State Fullerton in its weekend home set, the Arizona baseball team jumped to its highest ranking since 1993 in yesterday's polls.

In the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, Arizona moved up six spots from last week, ending the week ranked 11th. The 1993 Wildcats were ranked No. 9 in a pair of season-ending polls.

The UA jumped from No. 22 to No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, and from 15th to 13th in the Baseball America rankings.

Only an eight-inning Fullerton rally on Sunday prevented Arizona from sweeping its first two series of the season. The Wildcats are 5-1 headed into this weekend's series when they host yet another California team, the Anteaters of UC Irvine.

Wildcat pitchers getting quick hook

Sunday's 12-10 UA loss saw Wildcat skipper Andy Lopez trot out eight pitchers.

Sophomore Luis Cortez got the start and pitched 4.2 innings, surrendering six hits and two earned runs while striking out five. Sophomore John Meloan relieved Cortez, but gave up three earned runs on two hits in just 0.2 innings, setting a trend for the rest of the game.

In all, Arizona used seven pitchers in the last 4.1 innings: Meloan, Chris Frey, Pat Lawler, Mark Melancon, Brad Mills, Pat Burns and Derek Rodriguez.

"It's a very untested staff," Lopez said. "We're going to run a lot of guys out there because we want to find out who can pitch in game situations."

Melancon (2-1), a freshman, suffered his first loss of the season a day after getting the win in relief.

"Melancon has done a good job," Lopez said. "He'll just have to get used to being used twice in one weekend. The other young guys will have to get in gear and help us out a little bit - that's their role."

Lopez used the same starters against the Titans as he did during the previous weekend's sweep of UC Riverside. Junior Koley Kolberg started the opener, followed by sophomore Kevin Guyette on Saturday and Cortez on Sunday.

"We'll stick with that for a while and see how it goes," Lopez said. "So far, so good."

Beginner's luck? Freshman Donald stays hot at plate

Freshman Jason Donald continued to impress the Arizona coaching staff in just the second series of his career.

The Clovis, Calif. native went 5 for 15 against CSF, hitting a pair of homers and driving in 8 RBIs.

"He's off the charts," Lopez said. "He's as good a young guy as I've had in a long, long time. He has a tremendous work ethic and he wears out the coaching staff with his extra work."

That overworking might explain why Lopez deciding to knock off work early on Friday. The third-year Wildcat head coach was ejected in the third inning of the series opener after arguing an interference call on freshman D.J. Lewis.

"He was a little fired up," Donald said. "He wanted to pick our dugout up a little bit. I think he got us going."

Whatever his reason, Lopez's tactic worked. Arizona rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to win 11-8.

- Charles Renning contributed to this report.