After a four-game hiatus, No. 9 Arizona's conference-leading offense returned to form in weekend victories over No. 25 Southern California.
The Wildcats (29-15, 12-3 Pacific 10 Conference) smashed out a single-inning, season-high 13 runs in the third inning during Sunday's 18-4 victory, a day after returning to the win column with a 7-2 win Saturday.
The 13 runs bested Arizona's total over their four-game losing streak by five, as the Wildcats struggled in consecutive losses to UC Irvine, a loss at Sacramento State and a shutout at the hands of USC ace Ian Kennedy, who shared National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball.
"It wasn't a pleasant experience because our strength is our bat," head coach Andy Lopez said. "We hit. We've proven that for two years. I think it kind of took away the famous Samson and Delilah thing, once we don't hit, we get into that panic on the mound, and things just roll into some complications for us."
After Saturday's victory, Lopez still saw some things he was unhappy with, so the team held a two-hour meeting in the clubhouse to get them straightened out.
Whatever was said worked as the Wildcats exploded for 18 runs, tying the season-high output set Feb. 18 at Texas Pan American.
Everyone got into the action as seven players scored more than once and six batters hit safely multiple times.
"We came out ready to play today," Lopez said. "For some reason we disappeared for four games. We chatted about it, and I'm very pleased with the way they responded."
Despite the Friday shutout, Sunday's offensive outburst still put Arizona right around their conference-leading run total for the weekend as they average 8.4 runs per game.
Meloan's win streak ends
For the first time in nearly two years, junior ace John Meloan felt what it was like to end up on the losing end of a game.
Meloan, the loser of Friday's 13-0 decision, fell for the first time since May 4, 2003, when he gave up six unearned runs in the top of the tenth in a 12-7 loss.
Meloan (7-1) gave up eight runs on nine hits, while walking five and striking out a season-low one batter Friday after entering the contest striking out 7.5 batters per game.
The loss drops his record to a mind-boggling 21-2 in his Arizona career after compiling a 10-0 record last season and recording 17 consecutive wins.
Meloan did not appear too disappointed that his individual streak ended after the game.
"There it goes," he said.
Instead, he felt worse about not putting his team in position to win, a moot point when Kennedy held Arizona scoreless.
"The biggest thing that hurts me is I didn't do my job for my team tonight, I let them down," Meloan said. "We didn't do a very good job of scoring runs or anything, but my job is to go out there and give us a chance to win and that's what concerns me more than anything. I don't really care about the numbers or anything like that, it's just that I let my guys down."
Wildcats stay atop conference standings
After taking two out of three from USC, Arizona remained in sole possession of first place in the Pac-10.
Having led the conference all season, the Wildcats stayed a game up on No. 4 Oregon State (11-4 Pac-10), who took two of three against No. 18 ASU (10-5).
The Sun Devils possess third place, two games behind Arizona, while fourth-place USC (9-6) dropped three games back. No. 24 Stanford (7-5), the defending conference champion, stands 3 games back in fifth place.
After finishing fifth last year, Arizona has already matched its win total from that campaign.
In the polls, Arizona remained in its No. 9 spot in the Baseball America poll and No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings.
The Pac-10's top five teams all earned rankings in both polls.
Arizona takes a break from conference play this weekend to play Utah Valley State (14-32) before next weekend's showdown at ASU.
Kervin hit in the mouth
Freshman third baseman Bryan Kervin experienced why third base is called the "hot corner" Saturday.
Trojan shortstop Blake Sharpe smashed a ball that took a bad hop and hit Kervin square in the mouth with two outs in the fifth.
Kervin received immediate medical attention and spit blood while exiting the field. Junior third baseman Brad Boyer moved from second to third and freshman second baseman Brett Scyphers replaced Kervin in the lineup.
After the game, Lopez said he was day-to-day, but Kervin was back in the lineup Sunday after being checked by a dentist.
"He's going to have some stitches, that's for sure," Lopez said. "He won't be eating oranges tonight."
Kervin showed no ill effects Sunday, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Crowe keeps it going with leadoff blast
Before the 13-run third inning blew Sunday's game open, junior left fielder Trevor Crowe led off the game for Arizona with a solo home run deep to center field on a 2-2 count that gave the Wildcats the momentum from the start.
While Crowe consistently puts up quality at-bats, hitting .415 and leading the Pac-10 in six categories, Lopez was especially impressed by this effort which helped get Arizona's struggling offense back in gear.
"I told him, 'If you hit like that for the next 10 years, I'm going to ask you for some money,'" Lopez said. "Two strikes, short stroke, that was about as nice of an at-bat as I've seen in about 10 years. It was real special to watch."