TUCSON, Ariz. – The Arizona Wildcats will head to Phoenix this weekend for their final road trip of the regular season. The Cats will take on Arizona State in a three-game series beginning Thursday night.

Arizona won the first game 6-5 Thursday night, using some small ball magic and strong pitching. In Friday's game, junior left-hander Cameron Ming tossed his second straight complete game in conference play, lifting the Cats to a 3-1 win and a series victory over the Wildcats. Arizona will now turn to sophomore right-hander Cody Deason on Saturday to try to sweep the Sun Devils.
 
Below is a full preview:
Date                                              Time (MST)            Location (Ballpark)                          Starters/Result
Thu., May 18                                  6 p.m.       Phoenix, Ariz. (Municipal Stadium)           Arizona 6, Arizona State 5
Fri., May 19                                    7 p.m.       Phoenix, Ariz. (Municipal Stadium)           Arizona 3, Arizona State 1
Sat., May 20                                   7 p.m.       Phoenix, Ariz. (Municipal Stadium)           RHP Cody Deason vs. TBA
 
TV: All three games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network. Daron Sutton (PBP) and Dean Stotz (Analyst) will be on the call.
Radio: All three games will be on KCUB 1290-AM and through the TuneIn app.
Live Stats: Live stats will be available through StatBroadcast.com
 
All-time series: Arizona leads 247-216-1                 Last Meeting: ASU won 14-13 earlier this month; First meeting: The two teams first met in 1907
Leading Off...
• Junior first baseman JJ Matijevic is seventh in the country with a .402 batting average and second nationally in doubles with 25.
• Matijevic has 55 career doubles, which is one shy of Chip Hale for sixth all-time at Arizona. The left-handed hitter has 25 doubles this season, tied for fifth most in a single-season at Arizona with Trevor Crowe (2005).
• Arizona has three players -- JJ Matijevic, Jared Oliva and Cal Stevenson -- with 52 runs this season. No other player in the Pac-12 has more than 43 runs this season.
• Senior second baseman Kyle Lewis had his first career four-hit game last Sunday at College of Charleston, going 4 for 4 with three runs scored.
• Arizona has had at least three sacrifice bunts in three of its last 10 games. In the first 40 games of the season, the Wildcats had just three or more sacrifices once.
•  Arizona pitching recorded its third shutout of the season Sunday versus College of Charleston.
 
Some Series Themes: The Arizona Wildcats head up I-10 to take on intrastate foe Arizona State for a three-game Pac-12 series starting Thursday night…The two teams have split a pair of nonconference midweek games already this season, with Arizona winning the first one 11-2 and the Sun Devils outlasting the Wildcats 14-13 in the second matchup…Perhaps no Arizona player is more excited to play Arizona State than JJ Matijevic…In 12 career games against ASU, Matijevic is 18 for 46 (.391), with 10 runs scored, three doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI…This season, Matijevic is 7 for 10 against the Sun Devils with a pair of home runs...Matijevic and the Wildcats took two of three on the road last weekend at College of Charleston, after dropping the 14-13 affair to the Sun Devils on Tuesday…Arizona got back to its small ball ways in South Carolina…The Wildcats had four stolen bases in Sunday's win, which is its second highest total of the season and most since stealing five on Feb. 23 against McNeese State…Cal Stevenson had two sacrifice bunts in Sunday's win, which marked the second time in the past seven games Stevenson has had two sac bunts in the same game…No other Arizona player has two in a single game this season…As a team, Arizona has 10 sacrifice bunts over its last seven contests…On the mound, Arizona posted its third shutout of the season against Charleston, with starter Cody Deason doing most of the heavy lifting, going 6 1/3 scoreless innings…Tylor Megill closed it out with 2 2/3 scoreless to earn his second save of the season…The Sun Devils enter the weekend with a 23-26 record after posting a win over Seattle on Tuesday…Gage Canning leads the Sun Devils with a .337 average, including 10 doubles, seven triples and five home runs…Zach Cerbo and Lyle Lin are also above .300 on the year at .319 and .303 respectively…The Sun Devils have a staff ERA of 5.59, while Arizona lowered its to 4.31 after a solid series last weekend against the Cougars.
 
RBI and Round Trippers: Junior first baseman JJ Matijevic hit his 10^th home run of the season last Friday at College of Charleston. Through 50 games, Matijevic has 10 home runs and 57 RBI. He's just the fourth Arizona player in the last 10 seasons to have 10 or more home runs and 50 or more RBI in the same season. Only one- C.J. Ziegler in 2008 – reached 60 or more RBI, which Matijevic is on pace to do. For his career, Matijevic has 17 home runs and 120 RBI.
  Player                   Season                 Home Runs         RBI
JJ Matijevic        2017                        20                           57
Bobby Dalbec     2015                        15                           53
C.J. Ziegler         2008                       20                           60
Brad Glenn         2008                       14                            54
 
All the Long Balls: The Wildcats enter this weekend's series with Arizona State with three players – JJ Matijevic, Alfonso Rivas and Nick Quintana – with six or more home runs in the same season. That marks the first time since 2010 the Cats have done that. In 2010, Steve Selsky, Joey Rickard and Jett Bandy all had six or more. All three players started the season in the Major Leagues. Selsky started with the Boston Red Sox and is now in Triple-A Pawtucket. Rickard (Baltimore Orioles) and Bandy (Milwaukee Brewers) are currently in the big leagues.
  Teammates                                                                        Season                     Total Home runs
JJ Matijevic, Alfonso Rivas, Nick Quintana                             2017                                    24
Steve Selsky, Joey Rickard, Jett Bandy                                 2010                                    23
Brad Glenn, Dillon Baird, Steve Selsky                                   2009                                    24
C.J. Ziegler, Jon Gaston, Brad Glenn, T.J. Steele                    2008                                    58
 
Ming the Magnificent: Junior left-hander Cameron Ming shifted into the starting rotation on April 21 and has thrived in that role, after starting the season as Arizona's closer. Thirteen of Ming's first 14 appearances this season came out of the bullpen. His longest outing was a four-inning stint at Washington State on April 9, where he gave up two runs and earned the win. He then tossed 2 1/3 innings in relief on April 14 versus Oregon, before moving into the starting rotation against Utah. In his four starts since joining the rotation, Ming has gone at least six innings in all four starts and put together a quality start each time out. He earned a complete game win against Washington on May 6, notching the team's first complete game of the season. Last weekend at College of Charleston, Ming didn't factor into the decision, but went six innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out six for the second straight start. The junior left-hander from Phoenix is slated to start in his home town Friday.
 
The Place to Be: Arizona leads all Pac-12 and West Coast schools with an average attendance of 3,268. Overall, Arizona is 16th in the country in average attendance. The next closest Pac-12 team is Oregon State at 2,908. Last season, Arizona led all West Coast schools and Pac-12 teams with an average attendance of 3,043.
 
Attendance Leaders in the Pac-12:
1. Arizona: 3,268
2. Oregon State: 2,908
3. Arizona State: 2,467
 
Pac-12's Best: Arizona enters its weekend series with Arizona State 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 .311. The next closest team is Utah at .291. The Cats are also the only team in the league with an on-base percentage better than .400 at .404. The next closest is Utah at .380. Arizona has scored 402 runs through 50 games, which is 120 more runs than the next closest in the conference. Arizona also possesses the individual leader in batting average (JJ Matijevic, .402), slugging percentage (JJ Matijevic, .672), on-base percentage (Alfonso Rivas, .491), runs (Cal Stevenson, Jared Oliva, JJ Matijevic, 52), hits (Matijevic, 82), RBI (Matijevic, 57), doubles (Matijevic, 25) and total bases (Matijevic, 137).
 
Pac-12 leaders in Batting Average:
1. Arizona .311
2. Utah .291
3. Oregon State .289
 
Pac-12 leaders in Slugging Percentage:
1. Arizona .452
2. California .422
3. Arizona State .407
 
Pac-12 leaders in On-Base Percentage:
1. Arizona .404
2. Utah .380
3. Oregon State .377
Pac-12 leaders in runs scored
1. Arizona 402
2. Utah 282
3. Oregon State 256
 
Pac-12 leaders in RBI
1. Arizona 351
2. Utah 253
3. Oregon State 234
 
Pac-12 leaders in doubles
1. Arizona 113
2. Washington State 98
3. Stanford 93
 
Pac-12 leaders in walks:
1. Arizona 232
2. Oregon State 203
3. Oregon 200
 
What about nationally?: At 8.0 runs per game, Arizona is ninth in the nation in scoring and first among Power 5 Conference schools. At 402 runs, Arizona is 13th in the country and third among Power 5 Conference schools. The Wildcats are 16th in the country in on-base percentage at .404, which is the fourth-highest mark among Power Five teams. Arizona also is 10th in doubles per game at 2.26 and is 14th  in doubles overall with 113, which is third among Power Five teams.
 
Matijevic the Masher: Fifty games into his junior campaign, JJ Matijevic has blossomed into one of the top hitters in the country. Matijevic, who earlier this month was ranked as the 63rd best draft prospect in the country by Baseball America, enters the weekend with a .402 batting average, which leads the Pac-12 and is the seventh-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. Matijevic has 25 doubles this year, which is tied for the fifth-best season mark in school history. For his career, Matijevic has 55 doubles, which is the seventh-most all time in school history. With one 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.
 
        Most Single-Season Doubles in School History                                          
        Player              Year         2B
1.     Dave Stegman                1976 30
2.     Todd Trafton 1986         27
3.     Terry Francona               1980 26
        Willie Morales                1993 26
5.     Trevor Crowe                  2005 25
        JJ Matijevic   2017         25
7.     Dave Stegman                1975 24
8.     Marv Thompson            1974 23
        Ernie Durazo 2001         23
        Kevin Long     1989         23
        Nick Hundley 2005         23
        C.J. Ziegler     2007         23
        Jett Bandy      2010         23
        Ryan Aguilar  2016         23
 
Most Career Doubles in School History                                 
        Player              Years       2B
1.     Dave Stegman                1973-76           72
2.     Robbie Moen                  1990-93           63
3.     Terry Francona               1978-80           61
        Todd Trafton 1983-86   61
        Jett Bandy      2009-11   61
6.     Chip Hale        1984-87   56
7.    JJ Matijevic   2015-17   55
8.     Ron Hassey   1973-76   53
        Gar Millay      1984-86   53
        Brad Glenn    2006-09   53
 
National Leaders in Doubles: 
1. Brent Rooker, Mississippi State, 25
2. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 24
3. Five others, 23
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Batting Average: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .402
2. Nick Madrigal, Oregon State, .389
3. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, .381
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Hits: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 82
2. Nick Madrigal, Oregon State, 72
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 67
3. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona 67
3. Gage Canning, Arizona State 67
3. DaShawn Keirsey Jr., Utah, 67
3. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 67
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Total Bases 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 137
2. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 111
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 107
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Slugging Percentage: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .672
2. Sean Bouchard, UCLA, .577
3. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, .572
 
Pac-12 Leaders in RBI: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 57
2. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 53
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 49
 
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 .332 on the season with 29 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 third on the team and the league in RBI with 48. He's slugging .530 and is getting on base at a .400 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 50 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, 52
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 52
1. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 52
4. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 48
5. Nick Madrigal, Oregon State, 43
5. Mitchell Morimoto, Arizona, 43
7. Nick Quintana, Arizona, 42