Today's game with the Gauchos of UC-Santa Barbara marks the first time the Arizona baseball team has ever faced the Big West Conference team. The game starts at 2:30 p.m. and is the first of a two-game series at Sancet Field. It is also the last series before Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division play begins this weekend.

The Wildcats (13-8) face No. 12 Southern Cal on Friday.

The Gauchos (11-3) were 24-26 last year and are coming off a three-game series with the University of San Diego.

"We don't know much about Santa Barbara," Arizona head coach Jerry Kindall said. "If we can play hard like we did (Sunday against Minnesota), than we stand a good chance of winning."

The Wildcats will be led at the plate by left fielder Jeff Gjerde. As of Feb. 24th, Gjerde was hitting .435 with five home runs and 34 RBI.

Arizona will start freshman right-hander Darrell Hussman in today's game. Hussman was intended to pitch earlier in the season but was diagnosed with mononucleosis and sat out until today. Hussman was voted as a Los Angeles Times All-Star in high school. Defensively, the Wildcats have played well with only five errors in the three-game series against Minnesota.

"Boy, we had some good defensive plays (on Sunday). The two double plays bailed us out of big holes," Kindall said. "So we played good defensive ball."

Tomorrow's game will be started by senior left-hander Jason Ford.

Ford has pitched 10.2 innings in four appearances and is 1-0 with a 5.25 ERA.