Team's 13-1 record not surprising to players

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman left fielder Kenny Huff (24) hits a foul ball during Saturday's game against Texas A&M. Huff has a .312 batting average with two home runs and 12 RBI.

"I was hoping to be 14-0," freshman right fielder Shelley Duncan said. "I was hoping to be undefeated before ASU. But they (Texas A&M) are a great team and it seemed like everything they hit fell into place."

After jumping out to the sixth best start in school history, the Wildcats finally fell to the Texas A&M Aggies Sunday 18-9.

One thing the coaching staff and the players have been talking about this season is how they never give up.

UA Batting Stats (minimum 25 at-bats) AVG HR RBI SB Dennis Anderson .436 3 19 1 Keoni DeRenne .403 0 12 8 Shelley Duncan .373 8 22 1 Andy Juday .367 1 11 4 Kenny Huff .312 2 12 0 Rafell Jones .289 1 8 1 Eric Torres .288 2 14 0 Troy Gingrich .276 1 9 8 Ernie Durazo .239 0 6 1 Ben Diggins .179 0 4 0 Team totals .315 18 122 27 UA Pitching Stats (minimum 3 appearances) W - L - SV ERA IP SO Brian Pemble 0 - 0 - 2 0.00 5.2 5 Mike Meyer 1 - 0 - 2 1.32 13.2 11 Dave Abbott 3 - 0 - 0 2.25 20.0 12 Mike Crawford 2 - 0 - 1 2.45 22.0 17 Tony Milo 2 - 0 - 0 3.00 15.0 11 Josh Pearce 3 - 0 - 0 3.24 25.0 25 Wesley Zlotoff 1 - 0 - 1 4.82 9.1 12 Ben Diggins 1 - 1 - 0 10.05 14.1 11 Totals 13 - 1 - 6 3.52 133.0 114

"They kept coming and coming," head coach Jerry Stitt said. "This team will never quit. That is one thing they will never do."

Sunday the Wildcats were down by 12 runs and could have conceivably thrown in the towel, but they came back and scored three runs before recording their first loss of the season.

"We are going to have more times that we are down, but it just shows that no lead is safe," junior catcher Dennis Anderson said. "I bet you somewhere down the road we are down by six or seven and come back to win."

Freshmen Update

Jerry Stitt has started three freshmen on a regular basis through the first 14 games of the season.

Duncan has been the most productive of these freshmen, leading the Wildcats with eight home runs and 22 RBI. He has three two-home run games this season, with the most recent coming Sunday in the loss, and is just two home runs shy of the freshman record of 10 held by Dave Shermet in 1985.

Baseball America Top 25 Record Pvs. 1. Florida State 9-0 1 2. Rice 9-2 2 3. Wichita State 3-1 5 4. Miami 5-3 7 5. Stanford 6-3 10 6. Southern Cal 3-5 4 7. Long Beach State 3-3 3 8. Auburn 7-0 11 9. Florida 2-2 6 10. North Carolina 3-0 15 11. Clemson 3-0 14 12. Arizona State 13-4 12 13. Texas A&M 4-2 9 14. Texas 7-2 20 15. Louisiana State 1-2 8 16. Cal-St. Fullerton 4-3 17 17. Georgia Tech 4-4 16 18. Alabama 1-2 13 19. ARIZONA 13-1 NR 20. Pepperdine 8-0 NR 21. Wake Forest 2-1 18 22. Texas Tech 6-2 19 23. Washington 3-0 21 24. Houston 3-2 24 25. South Carolina 4-0 25

Duncan is also hitting .373, which is good for third on the team amongst the regular starters. He has a .947 fielding percentage as he has only committed one error in right field. Left fielder Kenny Huff has also been productive for Arizona as he is hitting .313 with two home runs, including his grand slam in the first inning against Texas A&M Friday, and 12 RBI.

Huff has played in all 14 games, starting 13 of them, and has not committed an error.

Ben Diggins, who has been a starting pitcher, designated hitter and first baseman this season, has been off to a much slower start than the coaching staff would have liked to see.

This freshman, who was drafted in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals, came in with a lot of hype but has failed to produce early on in the season.

He is 1-1 as a starting pitcher with an ERA of 10.05 and at the plate he is hitting below the "Mendoza Line" at a mere .179 with no home runs and just four RBI in 28 at-bats.

"I think he is just in a funk but he will keep working," Anderson said after Sunday's game. "He was throwing harder today and he keeps battling. He is also trying to learn a new pitch. I think he is doing okay."