Baseball team in position to secure team's best start

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior pitcher Darrell Hussman pitches against New Mexico State last weekend. Hussman is coming off his best pitching performance, which he displayed against Baylor, and is going for his third win today against Portland State. Hussman is the 32nd ranked prospect in the country.

It shouldn't be that hard, considering the opponent coming in to play today.

Portland State (1-2) will take on the No. 10 Wildcats (13-0) this afternoon at 3 at Frank Sancet Field. It is the first of a three-game series that wraps up Arizona's season-opening 16-game homestand.

The current Arizona team is tied with the 1974 club for the best start in school history.

The Vikings and Wildcats haven't played since 1992, and the series is tied at 1-1.

The two teams have gone different ways since then. While the Wildcats have regained national prominence, the Vikings have been one of the worst teams in the Pacific 10 Conference's Northern Division.

Last year Portland State was 10-43 overall, 3-27 in the Pac-10.

This weekend's games don't count against conference standings.

After Wednesday's narrow 11-10 win over New Mexico State, UA closer Ryan Moskau said close games can benefit the Wildcats.

"It helps our confidence that we can shut a team down like that late and hold on," Moskau said. "But you'd rather have a blowout."

After some defensive lapses nearly cost the Wildcats the game, head coach Jerry Stitt said he's worried about the conditioning of his starters in the field.

"Guys that play everyday aren't in as good shape as they could be," Stitt said.

While the fielding might be questionable at times, the hitting is not.

Arizona has scored 171 runs in its first 13 games, winning by an average of seven runs per game.

The team is on pace to set numerous offensive records, including home runs for a season. They currently have 27, which puts them on pace to hit 116 for the year, one more than the 1993 team.

Second baseman Erik Mattern is the man at the plate, leading the Wildcats in at-bats (60), runs (29), hits (29), doubles (6), triples (5) and RBI (27). Mattern is batting .483, good enough for second on the team, and has four home runs from the leadoff spot.

Taking the mound for Arizona today will be right-hander Darrell Hussman (1-0, 3.86 ERA, 24 strikeouts). Southpaws Rob Shabansky (4-0, 3.32, 27 strikeouts) and James Johnson (2-0, 4.58, 30 strikeouts) will pitch tomorrow and Sunday, respectively.

Both weekend games start at 1 p.m.