Baseball team to face No.1 Cardinal

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat Dan Hoffman/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior outfielder Jason Hendricks (12) makes a run for third base during Arizona's game against Cal on Sunday. The Wildcats face the Stanford Cardinal tonight at 8 p.m. in Palo Alto, Calif.

But none is bigger than a trip to play the top-ranked team in the country.

That's what begins tonight at 8 Tucson time for fifth-ranked Arizona (22-2, 4-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division) as the Wildcats take on the big, bad Stanford Cardinal (16-1-1, 5-1). Saturday and Sunday's games begin at 2 p.m.

"That's going to be big," UA left-handed starter James Johnson said, perhaps understating the implications of the series.

Stanford is currently in first place in the Six-Pac, one game up on both Arizona and Southern Cal.

The ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches' Poll has Arizona ranked second in the country behind the Cardinal, setting up a 1-2 showdown.

Arizona is coming off a sweep of California, while Stanford was stunned by Arizona State 4-2 in the final game of a three-game set in Tempe last weekend. The Cardinal beat the Sun Devils 15-1 and 17-5 in the first two games.

"That's amazing," Johnson said of the Cardinal's loss. "Hopefully we can get them while they're down."

Johnson's primary concern though, is with his own team, not Stanford.

"If we play like we did (last) weekend they'll beat us up," he said.

Stanford has beaten up a number of opponents. The Cardinal swept UCLA in Los Angeles by the combined score of 54-19.

The Cardinal offense is led by one of the best second basemen in the Six-Pac, junior Tony Schrager (.338 average, six home runs, 21 RBI). Other big bats for Stanford include sophomore left fielder Edmund Muth (.313-3-19), junior center fielder Jody Gerut (.356-6-26) and sophomore first baseman John Gall (.382-2-25).

As a team, the Cardinal is hitting .341, second in the Six-Pac behind Arizona's inhuman .388 team average.

The Wildcats have their own super second baseman hitting leadoff, senior Erik Mattern (.422-4-37). Following him in the order are freshman shortstop Keoni DeRenne (.446-5-36), junior third baseman Omar Moraga (.416-1-20) and senior left fielder Jason Hendricks (.447-8-26).

Hendricks leads the Six-Pac in batting average and is tied for the lead in home runs with UA junior catcher Greg Clark.

With both offenses featuring formidable firepower, the real showdown may come on the mound.

Stanford sends arguably the Six-Pac's best pitcher, Jeff Austin (5-0, 1.47 ERA) up against Arizona's Darrell Hussman (3-1, 5.30) today.

Two-sport star Chad Hutchinson, who also plays quarterback for the football team, takes his 4-0 mark up against UA southpaw Rob Shabansky (5-1, 3.35) Saturday.

Starters for Sunday's game have not been announced.