Cats Look to Win Series in Charleston

Friday, May 12

Charleston, S.C.

3:00 PM

University of Arizona

College of Charleston

05/11/2017 | Baseball

By: Arizona Athletics

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Arizona Wildcats had to wait an extra five hours on Saturday before they could get their game in because of heavy rain and storms in the area.

But when the game finally started at 7:30 p.m., EST, the Cats pulled out a 4-3 victory over College of Charleston, coming back from an early 3-0 lead. Michael Flynn tossed three hitless innings in relief to earn the win and Cesar Salazar had the game-winning hit in the eighth inning.

Arizona will now turn to sophomore right-hander Cody Deason in the series finale to try to win the road series, before moving back into Pac-12 play for the final two weeks of the regular season.

A full preview of the series is below:

Date             Time (MST)              Location (Ballpark)                              Starters/Results
Fri., May 12 3 p.m.                      Charleston, SC (Patriots Point) College of Charleston 3, Arizona 1
Sat., May 13 3 p.m.    Charleston, SC (Patriots Point) Arizona 4, College of Charleston 3
Sun., May 14 10 a.m.                    Charleston, SC (Patriots Point)        RHP Cody Deason vs. RHP Jakob Frishmuth

Live Stream: A free live stream will be available through cofcsports.com.
Radio: There will be no radio broadcasts
Live Stats: Live stats will be available through StatBroadcast.com
All-time series: First all-time meeting between the two schools

Leading Off...
• Junior first baseman JJ Matijevic is second in the country in batting with a .415 average. Alfonso Rivas is second in the conference and 19th in the country with a .395 average.
• Matijevic is the first Arizona player since Brad Glenn in 2009 to have two multi-home run games in the same season. He has nine home runs this season, one more than the team leader, Ryan Aguilar, from a year ago.
• Arizona has six players with 40 or more runs this season. Only one other player in the Pac-12, Oregon State's Nick Madrigal (41), has more than 40 runs this season.
• Junior outfielder Cal Stevenson has seven multi-hit games over his last 13 contests and is 18 for 42 (.429) during that stretch. He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday.
• Arizona leads the Pac-12 in attendance, averaging 3,268 fans per home game this season.
• Arizona has 33 home runs this season after posting 26 all of last season.

Some Series Themes: For the first time ever, Arizona and College of Charleston will square off in a three-game series at the Ballpark at Patriots Point…The name of the game for Arizona this season has been runs, runs and more runs…The Wildcats are sixth in the nation in scoring and seventh in runs scored…The quartet of Cal Stevenson, Alfonso Rivas, Jared Oliva and JJ Matijevic have combined 201 runs this season, which is more than 29 Division I teams….Stevenson, the catalyst at the top of the order, leads Arizona with 52 runs scored…Arizona's offense can be dangerous in a number of different ways…The Wildcats already have 33 home runs this season, which has surpassed their 2016 total…Arizona has also used the double to its advantage with 110 two-baggers this season, which is tied for sixth most in the country…Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List candidate JJ Matijevic is having a banner season for the Wildcats and is second in the country with a .415 batting average, while leading the Pac-12 in several offensive categories…Arizona will look to contain College of Charleston's offense this weekend with JC Cloney starting Friday, Cameron Ming going Saturday and Cody Deason scheduled to pitch Sunday…College of Charleston beat Coastal Carolina 6-5 on Wednesday at Coastal Carolina…The Cougars will open a three-game set with the Wildcats on Friday, playing the defending national champions and national-runner ups in four straight games…Cougars head coach Matt Heath has something in common with a few members of the Arizona baseball team…Heath played at the University of Florida for former Arizona coach Andy Lopez…The Wildcats still have 10 players on their roster who played for Lopez, before current coach Jay Johnson took over…Tommy Richter leads College of Charleston with a .354 batting average…Logan McRae has 14 home runs and 55 RBI, while sporting a .322 average…Luke Manzo is a .328 hitter and has 10 stolen bases…The Cougars will start Bailey Ober on Friday, Evan Sisk on Saturday and Jakob Frishmuth on Sunday…Arizona will counter with JC Cloney on Friday, Cameron Ming on Saturday and Cody Deason on Sunday.

Ming the Magnificent: Junior left-hander Cameron Ming has shifted into the starting rotation the past three weeks and has pitched strongly in that role. In his first 14 appearances, Ming made one start, which was just a two-inning stint against Arizona State in a midweek battle. But the lefty has made his first three extended starts of the year in his most recent outings. Ming started against Utah on April 21 and gave up just one run on four hits over six innings, while striking out four and walking two. He didn't factor into the decision. Ming then started the series opener at Stanford on April 27 and again turned in a strong start. He went 6 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits, while striking out five. The Cats dropped a close 3-2 affair, but Ming held strong over 94 pitches. The lefty then had the best start of his career on May 6 versus Washington, when he tossed a complete game, allowing just one run, while striking out five and not issuing any walks. Ming is 6-1 on the year with a 2.17 ERA in 49 2/3 innings. He's nearly at a strikeout per inning with 44 on the season. The complete game effort was the first of Ming's career. His previous long outing was seven innings against Stanford in 2016.

Pac-12's Best: Arizona enters its weekend series with College of Charleston leading the conference in every major offensive category, minus home runs and triples. The Cats lead the league in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, total bases and walks. The Cats are the only team in the league with a batting average better than .300 at .317. The next closest team is Oregon State at .289. The Cats are also the only team in the league with an on-base percentage better than .400 at .410. The next closest is Utah at .377. Arizona has scored 391 runs through 47 games, which is 128 more runs than the next closest in the conference. Arizona also possesses the individual leader in batting average (JJ Matijevic, .415), slugging percentage (JJ Matijevic, .679), on-base percentage (Alfonso Rivas, .502), runs (Cal Stevenson, 52), hits (Matijevic, 80), RBI (Matijevic, 54), doubles (Matijevic, 24) and total bases (Matijevic, 131).

Pac-12 leaders in Batting Average:
1. Arizona .317
2. Oregon State .289
3. Utah .288

Pac-12 leaders in Slugging Percentage:
1. Arizona .463
2. California .425
3. Arizona State .413

Pac-12 leaders in On-Base Percentage:
1. Arizona .410
2. Utah .377
3. Oregon State .375

Pac-12 leaders in runs scored
1. Arizona 391
2. Utah 263
3. Arizona State 238

Pac-12 leaders in RBI
1. Arizona 343
2. Utah 237
3. Arizona State 220

Pac-12 leaders in doubles
1. Arizona 110
2. Washington State 90
3. Stanford 86

Pac-12 leaders in walks:
1. Arizona 225
2. Oregon 192
3. Washington State 182
3. Oregon State 182
3. Utah 182

What about nationally?: At 8.3 runs per game, Arizona is sixth in the nation in scoring and first among Power 5 Conference schools. At 391 runs, Arizona is seventh in the country and first among Power 5 Conference schools. The Wildcats are 10th in the country in on-base percentage at .410, which is the second-highest mark among Power Five teams behind Kentucky. Arizona also is sixth in doubles per game at 2.34 and tied for sixth in doubles overall with 110, which is third among Power Five teams.

Matijevic the Masher: Forty-seven games into his junior campaign, JJ Matijevic has blossomed into one of the top hitters in the country. Matijevic, who last week was ranked as the 63rd best draft prospect in the country by Baseball America, enters the weekend with a .415 batting average, which leads the Pac-12 and is the second-best mark nationally. Matijevic already has 26 multi-hit games this season, including five four-hit games and six three-hit games. He also has 12 multi-RBI games and is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak. Matijevic has 24 doubles this year, which is tied for the sixth best season mark in school history. For his career, Matijevic has 54 doubles, which is the seventh-most all time in school history. With two more, he'll tie Chip Hale for sixth. Only once this season has Matijevic gone hitless in back-to-back games and he hasn't gone longer than four games this season without posting a multi-hit game.

National Leaders in Doubles:
1. Brent Rooker, Mississippi State, 25
2. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 24
3. Ryan Flick, Tennessee Tech, 23
3. Hunter Strong, Central Arkansas, 23
4. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 22

National Leaders in Batting Average:
1. Eli Boggess, Morehead State, .420
2. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .415
3. Adam Groesbeck, Air Force, .413

Pac-12 Leaders in Hits:
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 80
2. Nick Madrigal, Oregon State, 67
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 66
3. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona 66

Pac-12 Leaders in Total Bases
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 131
2. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 106
2. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 106

Pac-12 Leaders in Slugging Percentage:
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .679
2. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, .586
3. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, .569

Pac-12 Leaders in RBI:
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 52
2. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 48
2. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 48
4. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 45

He Went to Jared: Now a junior, Jared Oliva has wasted no time taking center stage for the Wildcats as an upperclassman. Oliva, who was named to Perfect Game's Midseason First-Team All-American squad earlier this season, is hitting .351 on the season with 28 extra-base hits. He has 22 doubles on the year after having just four all of last year. He and JJ Matijevic have the most doubles by any pair of teammates in the country. The junior from Saugus, California also has four home runs and is second on the team and the league in RBI with 48. He's slugging .557 and is getting on base at a .414 clip. He's also been successful in nine of 11 stolen base attempts. In the series finale against McNeese State, Oliva went 3 for 5 with two doubles, a home run and tied his career high with five RBI. His home run was a three-run shot and his two doubles both came in the seventh inning, allowing Arizona to pull away and earn the sweep. His best game in the Frisco Classic came in the middle game against Oklahoma State. Oliva was 2 for 5 with a pair of runs scored. He was 1 for 3 with an RBI double in the tournament opener against Arkansas. Against Hartford, Oliva had 11 RBI in the series and a career-high six RBI in the series finale. Oliva hit his first career grand slam in the 17-13 win over the Hawks and also had a two-run single. Oliva went 4 for 12 with five runs scored and six RBI in his first conference series of the season at UCLA. In his second conference series of the season, Oliva homered against Oregon State in the series opener. Through 46 games, Oliva has already surpassed or tied career highs in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks.

Pac-12 Leaders in Runs Scored:
1. Cal Stevenson, Arizona, 50
2. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 49
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 47
4. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 45
5. Mitchell Morimoto, Arizona, 41
5. Nick Madrigal, Oregon State, 41
7. Nick Quintana, Arizona, 40

Rivas Ripping It: Sophomore Alfonso Rivas enters Tuesday's game as Arizona's second-leading hitter at .395, which is also the second-best mark in the Pac-12. He has an on-base percentage of .502, which leads the Pac-12 and is the 18th-best mark in the country. Rivas is tied for second on the team and in the league with 53 RBI, and has six home runs, 11 doubles and 48 runs scored to go with a .569 slugging percentage. Rivas has also shown tremendous patience at the plate this year. He's drawn 27 walks, which is second on the team to Cal Stevenson. Rivas had just 18 walks all of last season as a freshman. With 53 RBI on the season, he's already surpassed his freshman total of 26. He's also surpassed his runs scored total from a year ago. He went 5 for 12 with six runs, two doubles, a home run and four RBI at UCLA. He then went 3-for-5 with four RBI in the series finale with Oregon State. Rivas has been Arizona's best hitter at Hi Corbett Field. He's batting .426 in 94 at-bats with eight doubles, a pair of home runs and 31 RBI. The next highest average at home is JJ Matijevic at .425.

Pac-12 leaders in OBP:
1. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, .488
2. Dallas Carroll, Utah, .469
3. Joey Morgan, Washington, .453
4. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .450

National Leaders in OBP:
1. Kestin Kiura, UC Irvine, .551
2 D.J. Artis, Liberty, .535
3. Dan Holst, Southwest Missouri State, .518
4. Bryce Brown, Jackson State, .508
4. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, .502