KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore infielder Jason Donald dives into first base during Arizona's 12-5 victory over the New Mexico Lobos Friday afternoon. The Wildcats came back Saturday to beat the Lobos 14-5.

Coming off an undefeated season, the No. 12 Wildcats expected big things from junior ace John Meloan.

Meloan delivered beyond expectations in his first start of the season Friday by flirting with a no-hitter for 7.2 innings before giving up a line drive to nine-hitter Ryan Barba just over junior second baseman Brad Boyer's glove.

"After he hit it, I thought, oh, be right at the second baseman, but I saw the way it went up and I knew it was over his head, and I was kind of kicking myself because I knew I'd shown him enough curveballs, and he hadn't shown any sign of hitting them, but I think he was tired of looking bad," Meloan said.

Junior Sean Jarrett closed out the one-hitter, in which Meloan stuck out 12 and the Wildcats won 9-0 over New Mexico at Sancet Stadium. Arizona's offense ensured a series sweep against the Lobos, beating them 14-5 on Saturday and 15-6 on Sunday. The Wildcats now hold a 22-game winning streak over New Mexico.

Meloan stole the show Friday, keeping Lobo hitters off-balance all evening by working both sides of the plate with his fastball, curveball and changeup.

"You can't say it was disappointing. It was a good outing," said Meloan, who threw three no-hitters his senior year of high school. "It just would have been a bonus to throw a no-hitter. For a first game of the year, to come out and put out some zeroes and give my team a chance to win, I'm happy with that."

Surprisingly, Meloan said he did not feel like he was in a groove until the fifth or sixth inning, despite striking out seven batters through the first five innings. He also said he did not think about the no-hitter until fans screamed it out in the later innings.

No Arizona pitcher has thrown a no-hitter since Joe Magrane did it against Cal State Fullerton in February of 1984. The last one-hitter occurred in March of 1980 when Ron Sismondo shut out CSUF.

The Wildcats used a combination of power and speed to average 12.7 runs per game for the series, including two innings in which Arizona batted around for seven runs.

"It's something we work very diligently about when we recruited guys three years ago," Lopez said. "(We wanted) a lot of the hybrid, power with speed, and so far it's there. We can run the bases pretty well. We're seven for seven on stolen bases on the weekend, had some power and that's what you want."

The top of the order got it done for Arizona on Friday, as top-four hitters junior Trevor Crowe, Boyer, senior Jeff Van Houten and junior Jordan Brown combined to hit 6-for-13 with eight runs scored and four RBI in support of Meloan. The Wildcats also stole four of their seven bases Friday, including two from Crowe who led the team with 26 steals last season.

On Saturday, Arizona pitching continued to whiff the Lobos. Junior Kevin Guyette, senior Sean Rierson and sophomore Mark Melancon combined to strike out 18 New Mexico batters. Rierson struck out six of the seven batters he faced in his first action after missing last season with "Tommy John" surgery, and Melancon struck out the side in the ninth.

Four Wildcats combined to strike out 11 more batters Sunday to finish the weekend with a whopping 42 punch outs.

"That's probably the most surprising thing," Lopez said. "I don't mean that in disrespect to our staff, but we've only got a couple guys that throw 90. The rest of them have to hit their spots. The entire staff did a magnificent job throwing the off-speed pitches this weekend, and we got good results out of it."

The second game was tied in the bottom of the sixth before junior catcher Nick Hundley's second homer of the game, this one a solo shot, put Arizona up for good. The Wildcats broke the game open in the seventh, scoring seven runs on six hits to blow out the Lobos.

Hundley went 4-for-5 with his two homeruns along with three RBI and three runs scored. Sophomore designated hitter Bill Rhinehart added four hits and three runs while first baseman Brown drove three runs home.

"The offense was successful this week because we worked hard on just staying through the ball and playing against our opponent, not trying to do anything we're not capable of," Brown said.

The Wildcats continued the offensive onslaught in Sunday's game, scoring 15 runs on 19 hits with the middle of the order leading the way. The heart of the order, Van Houten, Brown and sophomore Jason Donald combined to hit 9-for-12 with two homeruns, ten RBI and seven runs scored.

Trailing 3-1 in the second, Arizona scored 13 unanswered runs while scoring in six of the eight innings overall. After a four-run third to regain the lead for good, the UA's seven-run sixth, in which eight consecutive batters reached base, blew the game open.

While greater tests await the Wildcats in the upcoming season, both the offense and pitching staff clicked on the opening weekend.

"Whenever you win three games in a weekend, it's a great weekend," Lopez said.