Coming off a season-opening sweep of New Mexico, the No. 11 Arizona baseball team looks to continue its hot streak against Northern Colorado.
The series starts today at 4 p.m., continues tomorrow at 1 p.m. and concludes Sunday at noon at Sancet Stadium.
The Wildcats (3-0) hope to carry on their impressive play from last weekend, in which they outscored the Lobos 38-11 and dominated in many facets of the game.
"We got that first series off our back and let everyone know that we're for real and capable of playing well against anyone," said first baseman Jordan Brown, who drove in eight runs over the weekend.
Junior John Meloan (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will toe the rubber for Arizona today after carrying a no-hitter into the eighth and finishing with a one-hitter in his last start. Meloan, who has never lost a start in his Arizona career, looks to come out strong again.
"I don't know if you can expect to duplicate a performance like that, only giving up one hit to a Division I team," said Meloan, who won National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball. "I don't think you can expect that every weekend, so the biggest thing I'm going to try to do is just keep staying in my routine, do what I do everyday, get my running in, get my bullpen in, and just try to go out there and throw strikes and whatever happens, happens."
As with last weekend, junior Kevin Guyette (0-0) and freshman David Coulon (0-0, 4.50) will start the final two games of the series.
Senior Sean Rierson (1-0, 0.00), who struck out six out of seven batters in 2.1 perfect innings Saturday, will remain in his role as a reliever.
Rierson was Arizona's Friday starter in 2003 before Tommy John surgery forced him to miss last season.
UA head coach Andy Lopez said Rierson will compete for a starting spot once he builds up more arm strength in the next couple weeks.
The offense hit on all cylinders last weekend, as Arizona averaged 12.7 runs per game against the Lobos. The Wildcats hit .419 with 13 doubles, a triple and five home runs in the series to go along with a .500 on-base percentage and a .675 slugging percentage.
In the other dugout, Northern Colorado returns 19 players from a squad that went 29-23 last season in its first year at the Division I level, including Division I first-team All-Independent pitcher Craig Ayers (8-4, 5.36 last season), designated hitter John Ray (.302, 12 HR, 44 RBI) and outfielder Matt Sutton (.365, 2 HR, 18 RBI).
The Bears will be playing their season-opening series, as Tuesday's doubleheader against Air Force was snowed out.
Lopez said Arizona would not underestimate Northern Colorado, against whom the Wildcats hold a 29-3 lead all-time.
"What we teach is you need to play the game soundly. It doesn't really matter who the team is," Lopez said. "We can't afford to not play the game and expect to be victorious, so we need to keep playing the game soundly, and hopefully we'll do that."
Meloan agreed, saying any team with metal bats can put runs up in a hurry.
"I don't think you can take any team lightly in college baseball," he said. "You just have to go out there and throw strikes, and don't treat them as Northern Colorado, but treat them as a top contender."
Once again, Arizona will use this series to provide valuable experience for its freshman pitchers.
While veterans mainly took care of the first two games, Coulon and fellow freshmen Eric Berger and Mike Coons combined to pitch the front eight innings Sunday, giving up only two earned runs.
"We hope to (pitch the freshmen) every weekend because they have to get old," Lopez said. "They're young right now, and they need to get old, and the only way they're going to get old is with pitching experience against college hitters, so we'll try to do that as much as we can."
On top of building experience, the Wildcats hope to stay in the win column this weekend. With another series sweep, Arizona would likely climb into the top 10 in the national rankings.
"I do expect a sweep," Meloan said. "It's not going to be easy. No matter who you play, if you can win three games it's a pretty successful weekend."