JOSH FIELDS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman infielder Bryan Kervin loses the ball during Arizona's exhibition game with the Tucson Sidewinders. The Wildcats play Pac-10's second-place team Oregon State this weekend at Sancet Stadium.

Off to its best conference start in school history, the No. 6 Arizona baseball team returns home for a first-place showdown this weekend.

The Wildcats (24-10, 8-1 Pacific 10 Conference) host No. 11 Oregon State (26-5, 5-1) in a battle of the Pac-10's top teams at Sancet Stadium tonight and Saturday evening at 7, and Sunday at noon.

Both teams enter the matchup hot.

Arizona swept consecutive road series at UCLA and Washington State after not having swept a road series in six years, while the Beavers took two out of three at No. 14 Stanford after sweeping California.

Arizona head coach Andy Lopez said he does not want to put any added emphasis on this series, even with the conference's second-best team coming to town.

"(All series are) big for us," he said. "I've never put more importance on one or the other."

Junior pitcher Kevin Guyette said this will be an important weekend for his team, but that the real impact ends there.

"This is a big weekend, but it's not going to get us to Omaha if we win all three, and if we lose all three we're not done for the season," he said.

After beating up on Pac-10 pitching thus far, averaging a conference-best 10.1 runs per game, the Wildcats face the league's best pitching staff.

The Beavers post a conference-best 2.99 ERA, and their undefeated starting staff enters the series 18-0.

"On paper it should be good," Lopez said. "Hopefully, what's on paper will jump off on the field. It'd be nice to see some good games."

Tonight's pitching matchup pits undefeated aces junior John Meloan (6-0, 3.26 ERA) and Oregon State's Dallas Buck (7-0, 1.19).

Buck, who was named the nation's top pitcher thus far by Baseball America, leads the conference in wins and ERA and ranks fourth in strikeouts.

Meloan has not lost a decision since his freshman year.

Guyette (6-2, 3.49) goes for his third consecutive complete game victory tomorrow against Anton Maxwell (5-0, 5.55).

After pitching well two weekends in a row despite getting little defensive support last week, freshman David Coulon (2-1, 5.40) toes the rubber against the conference's second-best ERA man, Jonah Nickerson (6-0, 1.21).

The quality arms do not stop there for the Beavers, as the bullpen boasts right-handed closer Kevin Gunderson (2-1, 2.29) and left-handed stopper Nate Fogle (3-2, 1.50).

Gunderson leads the conference with seven saves, while Fogle is right behind him with five.

Guyette said he feels confident in his offense, even going up against such a vaunted pitching staff.

"Our offense is going to score more than those guys have been giving up," he said. "I haven't looked at their schedule, but I've heard they haven't played quite the caliber team that we have, so I think that's going to be kind of a wakeup call for them, and I'm pretty confident in our ability to score. Meloan and myself and the rest of the pitchers are up for the challenge."

The Beavers enter the series as Baseball America's top surprise team, having been picked to finish sixth in the coaches' preseason conference poll; but they played no ranked teams during the non-conference schedule.

In that time, Arizona played No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Cal State Fullerton and No. 24 Mississippi State.

"I don't think it should be anything we haven't seen before," junior center fielder Chris Frey said. "We've just got to hit their mistakes when they throw them, and hopefully they'll throw a few of them. Don't try to do too much."

Offensively, reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week Jacoby Ellsbury leads the Beavers. Ellsbury (.461, five home runs, 30 RBIs), an outfielder, has hit .600 in league play.

With Arizona on a hot streak, Lopez said all his team needs to do is keep playing well.

"I know it sounds simplistic, but it really is true," he said. "We've been getting good pitching, good defense and timely hitting for a while, so hopefully that will continue."

Arizona can distance itself from the pack with another winning weekend against the team directly behind them in the standings.

"We need to keep things rolling and keep people chasing us," Frey said. "Last year we had to chase people the whole time, so it would be nice for people to chase us."

With first place on the line and an equally hot team in town, the Wildcats can prove they are the best team in the conference this weekend.

"I think it's going to determine the No. 1 team in the (conference) versus the No. 2, and that's the most evident thing by our records, but I think it's a momentum thing too," Guyette said. "If we win two out of three or it's a sweep going into next weekend and the weekends to come, we're going to have a lot of confidence."