TUCSON, Ariz. – In a game that totaled 29 runs, 34 hits, 13 pitchers used and spanned four and a half hours, the 15^th-ranked Arizona Wildcats topped Eastern Kentucky 16-13 Saturday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
 
The Wildcats erased a nine-run deficit in the wild affair to pick up their second straight win over the Colonels. Freshman Nicholas Quintana paced the Wildcats offensively, going 5 for 6 with five RBI and two runs scored. He became the first Arizona freshman to have a five-hit game in an opening series of a season since Trevor Crowe in 2003. Junior JJ Matijevic went 3 for 6 with five RBI and three runs scored and sophomore Cesar Salazar also added three hits.
However, it was a slow start for Arizona. Eastern Kentucky scored one run each in the first and second, before exploding for a seven-run third inning to take a 9-0 lead.
 
Arizona began chipping away at the lead in the third with a five-run inning of its own. Freshman Matt Fraizer started the inning with a walk and moved to second when Louis Boyd was hit by a pitch. Mitchell Morimoto then singled up the middle to score Fraizer and move Boyd to third. Cal Stevenson followed, reaching on an error to load the bases for Alfonso Rivas.
 
Rivas grounded out to second to score Boyd. Matijevic then plated two more with a single and Quintana capped the scoring with an RBI double to right-center to score Matijevic. But Eastern Kentucky answered right back, scoring three more runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 12-5. The Cats got one back in the fifth when Jared olive singled home Quintana. But again, Eastern Kentucky responded with a run in the sixth.
 
After that, however, it was all Wildcats. Arizona erupted for a six run inning in the sixth to pull within one at 13-12. Morimoto and Stevenson led off the inning with back-to-back walks and then Rivas was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Matijevic. Matijevic emptied the bases with a double to plate three. Quintana followed with a double of his own to score Matijevic and Oliva brought home Quintana with a double to right. Boyd capped the scoring in the inning with a two-out triple to right-center to score Oliva.
 
Landon Faulkner then entered the game for the Wildcats to make his Arizona debut and pitched a scoreless seventh to keep the Cats within one. Arizona then took the lead in the bottom half. Stevenson walked to lead off and moved to third on a one-out single from Matijevic. Quintana brought home Stevenson on an RBI single and Salazar plated Matijevic on an RBI double to give Arizona its first lead at 14-13.
 
Faulkner and closer Cameron Ming combined to put up a scoreless eighth and Arizona added two more insurance runs in the bottom half. Morimoto walked with one out and Stevenson followed with one of his own. Freshman Cameron Cannon then singled to load the bases with no outs. Quintana again answered the bell with a two-run, two-out double to make it 16-13, which held as the final score.
 
Ming pitched around an error in the ninth to record his first save of the year. Faulkner earned the win in his Arizona debut.
 
The Cats will look for their third straight over the Colonels on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.