No. 10 Arizona rolls over Aggies

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior first baseman Kenny Corley (33) leaps for the plate as New Mexico State pitcher Pat Leach (24) runs in to make a play. Corley scored after being knocked in by senior left fielder Jason Hendricks yesterday as the Wildcats beat the Aggies 13-3 at Frank Sancet Field.

Just don't tell the members that.

"All of us aren't trying to think about the record or any streaks," sophomore center fielder Rafell Jones said. "We're just focusing on one game at a time."

That philosophy has carried the No. 10 Wildcats to a 12-0 start after slamming New Mexico State 13-3 yesterday at Frank Sancet Field.

Jones helped the Wildcats blow a 4-3 game wide open by tripling with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth.

"It was just fortunate to come at that time," Jones said of his hit.

UA head coach Jerry Stitt called it the "key hit of the game."

After NMSU first baseman Jason Story hit a bomb that cut the lead to 4-3, Arizona exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the inning.

After Jones was knocked in by senior second baseman Erik Mattern on a single, freshman shortstop Keoni DeRenne stepped up and tripled to right-center field to score Mattern.

Overall, DeRenne was 3 for 4, coming a single short of hitting for the cycle.

"As long as we're winning I don't care about the cycle," he said. "Probably if I had thought about it, I would have choked."

Arizona was up by one run on the Aggies (6-3) in the bottom of the sixth, thanks largely to DeRenne's tape measure home run over the right field scoreboard in the third.

"I'm still shocked by it," DeRenne said of and I just wanted to make contact."

DeRenne's homer was one of the few mistakes Aggie starter Pat Leach (1-1) made prior to the sixth inning. Leach had six strikeouts through the first five innings.

"He was tough," Stitt said. "His breaking ball and change-up were working real well early."

Leach was matched by Arizona sophomore starter Dave Abbott (1-0), who struck out a career-high six over six innings for his first collegiate win. He gave up only three runs on five hits.

One of those runs came off the bat of former Tucson resident Mike Marvel, who bashed a solo home run to deep center field. Story accounted for the other two runs with an RBI double in the first and a solo homer in the sixth.

"I was confident in the offense," Abbott said. "All I had to do was hold them back for a while."

Senior first baseman Kenny Corley snapped out of a hitting slump by going 4 for 4 - all singles - while walking once and scoring two runs.

UA sophomore pitcher Mike Meyer, appearing on the mound for the first time in his college career, struck out five over the last three innings to pick up his first save while giving up only one hit.

The Wildcats will try to repeat yesterday's performance, and tie the team's best start, when they play the Aggies again today at 3 p.m.