The Arizona baseball team, losers of eight of their last 10, now find themselves on a two-game winning streak after a 12-2 victory yesterday against UC-Santa Barbara at Sancet Field.

The Wildcats defeated Minnesota 4-2 Sunday.

The Gauchos (11-3) were off to a good start after sweeping Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. Coming into the series, the Gauchos had a team batting average of .340 and a team ERA of 3.98, but all that changed in yesterday's game.

"These are two well-played games in a row and it's not something that surprises me. It reaffirms to me that the team can do that," Arizona head coach Jerry Kindall said. "I think that we can say that we are regaining our good consistency, which we did not have after the Fullerton series."

The game was highlighted by the stand-out pitching of UA starter Darrell Hussman (1-0) and reliever James Johnson. In his first start for Arizona (14-8), Hussman pitched five innings allowing three hits and one earned run with two walks and one strikeout. Johnson relieved Hussman and allowed four hits and one earned run with one walk and four strikeouts in four innings of work.

"I felt confident. I had a bad last two outings and I just wanted to get in there and throw strikes," Johnson said. "Today I was hitting my spots real well and the guys picked me up out in the field. All the guys did a hell of a job."

The offensive charge was lead by centerfielder Diego Rico. Rico was 3-4 with a triple, a stolen base and two RBI. First baseman Brian Becker and catcher Greg Clarke both went 2-4 with two RBI. UA's leading hitter, leftfielder Jeff Gjerde, was 2-4 and raised his batting average to a red-hot .440.

"It was the last game against Minnesota that pretty much got us back together, we played good defense and that's what we needed to do," Rico said. "I was in a slump for a little while. I was playing hurt, I had a pulled muscle in my back, but it's turned around for me now."

Arizona shortstop Levi McClendon's good play earned him a spot in the lineup for the second-straight game. McClendon started Sunday in order to give Erik Mattern a much-needed rest, but he played well enough to earn himself a second start.

"Levi McClendon played another good game," Kindall said. "He had two hits and some good defensive plays."

The final game of the two-game series will be played at 2:30 p.m. at Sancet Field. The starting pitcher for the Wildcats will be Jason Ford (1-0 6.75 ERA). The Gauchos will be starting their ace € right-hander Seth Bean (4-0 3.79 ERA).