KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sidewinders shortstop Jerry Gil rounds first base at Tucson Electric Park last June. The Sidewinders and the Wildcats play an exhibition game tonight at 6:05 to raise money for a children's charity.

The No. 6 Arizona baseball team takes a break from its schedule to play an exhibition game against the Tucson Sidewinders tonight.

The Wildcats and Sidewinders play at 6:05 p.m. at Tucson Electric Park, 2500 E. Ajo Way.

General admission tickets cost $3 with all proceeds donated to buy books for preschoolers and help fund a study of local families' child care needs.

"We're excited to be a part of this game," head coach Andy Lopez said in a press release. "It's for a great cause and hopefully the community will come out and support not only it, but two of our local baseball teams as well."

Ron Marx, the dean of the College of Education, said the proceeds will benefit a program the College of Education is doing with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, studying child care in the county.

In this project, the College of Education and the Institute for Children, Youth and Families have combined with The Early Childhood Development and Learning initiative to address the needs of young children and families in southern Arizona, according to a press release.

ECDL faculty and students plan to start the Southern Arizona Benchmark Study of Early Child Care and Education Use and Quality in this summer. They will collect information from 1,000 southern Arizona families regarding their experiences and concerns about local child care and early education.

"It's for young kids," Marx said. "Young kids are important for all of us. They're going to pay your Social Security."

The project's focus ensures that parents can know their children are safe, well cared for and exposed to stimulation that will augment early learning.

Marx said it's good to see professional and college athletes give back to their community through education.

"For the Sidewinders, it's nice that professional athletics play a community role," he said. "I know most professional sports teams do these sorts of things and it's nice that they have a commitment to education, and (for) the U of A, it's nice that athletes who are role models have an opportunity, even indirectly, to do this sort of thing."

Marx said the College of Education sponsors many community-related projects, but has never worked with the Sidewinders.

On April 6, 2004, the Sidewinders also played an exhibition game against Arizona, beating the Wildcats 8-5 on the strength of a Victor Hall home run.

Tucson, the AAA team of the Arizona Diamondbacks, opens its season Thursday at Salt Lake after ending its exhibition schedule against Arizona.

"The exhibition game is a great opportunity for Sidewinders fans to catch a preview of the 2005 team and a chance to see a very competitive game," Sidewinders manager Chip Hale said in a press release. "The Sidewinders hope to be a legitimate playoff team this season and to be able to tune up against a College World Series caliber team like the Wildcats is a great way to start the season."

Hale started every game of his college career at Arizona from 1983-87, batting .345 in his career. He holds school records in career hits (337), walks (162) and sacrifice flies (21) and helped lead the team to its last College World Series title in 1986.

The Sidewinders also feature Arizona alumni first baseman/catcher Alan Zinter (1987-89), a Baseball America first team All-American in 1989, and infielder Keoni DeRenne (1998-2000), a third team Baseball America All-American in 2000.

Arizona (21-10, 5-1 Pacific 10 Conference) enters the exhibition fresh off a weekend sweep of UCLA in which the Wildcats outscored the Bruins 31-6. Arizona plays at Washington State (15-17, 0-6) this weekend.

Before the exhibition, former Arizona manager Jerry Kindall, who managed the Wildcats to 822 victories and three national championships from 1973-96, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game, according to the Sidewinders Web site.

Dave Sitton, the television voice of the Arizona men's basketball team who was diagnosed with lymphoma two months ago, will receive the pitch.

Marx said he will also throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

"That will be fun," he said. "All of my friends are worried I won't be able to get the ball over the plate. If I hit the mitt, I'll be happy."