JAKE LACEY/Arizona Daily Wildcat Kevin Guyette, the Daily Wildcat Athlete of the Week, pitched a one-hit shutout game against UCLA April 2, and followed that up with a complete-game win against Washington State Saturday.

After throwing back-to-back complete game victories, junior pitcher Kevin Guyette (6-2, 3.49 ERA) has led the Wildcats (24-10, 8-1 Pacific 10 Conference) to their best conference start in the program's history.

Guyette pitched all nine innings in Saturday's 7-4 win at Washington State and threw a one-hitter in Arizona's 11-0 win over UCLA April 2 to earn Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors. He has struck out at least eight batters in 8-of-10 starts and leads the Pac-10 in strikeouts with 86, a total higher than he had all of last season.

Guyette sat down with the Wildcat to discuss his new curveball, his relationship with junior pitcher John Meloan and what the team needs to do to get back to the College World Series.

Wildcat: How important is it to the team to throw two complete games in a row?

Guyette: I think it's important. It saves our pitching for Sunday, which is definitely going to help us out in the long run. If Meloan and I can go deeper into innings we could save pitching for Sundays. We have a deep bullpen, but it's always nice to have all the options.

Wildcat: And that let you use (sophomore closer Mark) Melancon for over three innings.

Guyette: Right. I don't know if he would have thrown on either Friday or Saturday if he could have done that, so it saves arms and that's just a good thing.

Wildcat: What have you done this season to make yourself more durable and be able to go deeper into games?

Guyette: I think I'm a little bit healthier this year than I was last year. I was dealing with a little bit of forearm soreness or pain. I took the summer off. I didn't play baseball at all, and I think that helped out my arm a lot, and then just trying to learn as much from coach (Andy) Lopez as possible about pitching, and just the combination of all those things have allowed me to go deeper into games.

Wildcat: How did you improve your breaking ball?

Guyette: Coach always harps on a hard breaking ball, and I had always thought of the pitch being a finesse pitch, but I see it as a power pitch as well. I think that it's a lot more effective now than it was before simply because I'm throwing it harder.

Wildcat: Coach just said it's the best one he's seen since Josh Fogg who is a Pittsburgh Pirate right now. What do you think of that?

Guyette: That's a great compliment. I don't know if I'm anywhere close. I've seen that guy throw a few times on TV, and he's pretty amazing. I think I've worked hard on it. I'm glad that I'm seeing results. It's not me on my own. It's coach Lopez helping me develop the curveball that I have.

Wildcat: After allowing four early runs, you one hit Washington State over the final 5 1/3 innings. What adjustments did you make?

Guyette: That's a tough question. I think I threw a few guys differently later in the innings because I'd seen them a few times as opposed to early in the game I was going off how Meloan got guys out. I always keep a chart on all the hitters. He was successful one way, and I wasn't successful the way he did it, so I had to change. Instead of going in on a few guys, I started throwing fastball away which was what was more effective for me. That's the change that I made.

Wildcat: You threw a one-hitter last week against UCLA. What was your mindset during that game?

Guyette: To win. To win a Pac-10 game was honestly my mindset. I kind of knew about it late, but it wasn't that big of a deal because it wasn't like I gave up that one hit in the eighth or ninth inning. It was the second inning, so a no-hitter wasn't in my mind. I don't think that there's much difference between a one-hitter, two-hitter, three-hitter or so. I didn't really put any added pressure on myself because there wasn't a no-hitter.

Wildcat: Having already thrown more strikeouts than last season, what has been the difference with that?

Guyette: My curveball for sure has been the biggest difference. I think I've improved it 100 percent since last year. I think it was a strike pitch last year and I think it's a strikeout pitch this year.

Wildcat: With you and Meloan having such amazing seasons, which Lopez actually said it's like you've got Friday guys 1 and 1A, it kind of reminds me of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, how they used to push each other. Is that how it is?

Guyette: Oh yeah, for sure. I wasn't around Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, but I've heard some stories about them competing against each other. I for sure measure myself against him and then also against myself. I think we do have a relationship where we push each other which is kind of neat because it goes further than on the mound and on game days. It travels into the week, at practices during the week, in bullpen and conditioning, and I think I've learned a lot from him, so I'm grateful for him being around.

Wildcat: Is it a big accomplishment for your team starting 8-1 for the first time in school history in conference play?

Guyette: Yeah, I think so. You look back at how many years there's been baseball here. I think baseball started in the '20s, and I don't know how many (conference) schools they had, but I'm sure they played conference games. When you think about it, I'm think it is quite an accomplishment, but at the same time, like I said a little bit earlier, it doesn't get us to Omaha, and it doesn't prevent us from going to Omaha. It's great, but it's in the past, and we're looking on to beating Oregon State this weekend.

Wildcat: What has the veteran presence brought to this team with all the juniors you have?

Guyette: I think it's been big, hopefully, for the freshmen to sit and watch throughout a game, throughout practice. It's honestly a confidence level that we have this year that we didn't have last year. That's the biggest difference. We've been to Omaha, and we expect to get back. I think the confidence in myself will rub off on other pitchers and players, and their confidence rubs off on me.

Wildcat: How do you help the young guys like (freshmen pitchers David) Coulon and (Eric) Berger?

Guyette: They're all pretty talented to begin with, so I try to give my best by just teaching them the game. I think that when I came out of high school, I didn't know the game as well as I do now. I think there are reasons that we do things in this program, and I've tried to explain to them the reasons we do them. I talk to Coulon, and Coulon asks about hitters for Sunday, and so we communicate well our ideas, and help them out I guess.

Wildcat: After going to the College World Series last year, what does this team need to do to get back there?

Guyette: I think that we have to pitch well, and pitching is the biggest thing in baseball. We're pretty confident in our bullpen as well as our starting pitching, and that's going to lead us to the promised land.

Wildcat: Do you have any superstitions?

Guyette: My superstition is not to be superstitious. I was in little league, and I probably did two hours of pre-game rituals before the game, and we ended up losing. Ever since that little league state championship, I told myself I wasn't going to do anymore pre-game rituals.