ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- The Arizona Wildcats are set to face New Mexico on Monday night in a midweek matchup. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m., Tucson time. 

Below is a full preview:

Leading Off...
•    Arizona steps out of conference for a single game Monday at New Mexico, before returning home to host No. 5 Oregon State for a three-game series. The Wildcats will then embark on a four-game road trip and play eight of their next 12 away from Hi Corbett Field.
•    Arizona caoch Jay Johnson recorded his 100th victory as the head coach of the Wildcats on Sunday against Washington State. He's 103-55 in his two-plus seasons as coach. He's the fastest to reach the 100-win milestone since Jerry Kindall in 1975.
•    The Wildcats have allowed just 78 runs through 26 games, which is the program's lowest total since 1974. Arizona's pitching staff has a 2.58 ERA, which is the fifth-best mark in the nation and are allowing just 7.30 hits per nine innings, which ranks 20th in the country.
•    Right-hander Cody Deason is fourth in the Pac-12 with 41 strikeouts after recording a career-high 10 against Washington State. 
•    Sophomore second baseman Cameron Cannon leads the team with 26 RBI and has upped his season batting average to .350.
•    Cesar Salazar has a 24-game on-base streak, and leads Arizona with a .382 average.
•    Arizona entered the series with Nicholls State with four home runs on the season, but hit five last weekend against the Colonels. 

Power Surge: Arizona entered its weekend series with Nicholls State last weekend with just four home runs on the season. The Wildcats more than doubled that number in the three-game series with the Colonels. Arizona hit five home runs in the three-game sweep of Nicholls, getting two home runs from Nick Quintana and one apiece from Cameron Cannon, Jacob Blas and Donta Williams. Quintana, who hit six last year as a freshman, has three home runs in his last four games after not having any in his first 22 games of the season. The home runs for Cannon, Blas and Williams were all the first of their respective careers. Arizona also had 10 doubles against the Colonels, which is the most the Cats have had in a series this season. The Wildcats saw their team batting average rise from .272 to .287 in the three-game series with Nicholls.
 
Freshmen Force: The Wildcats have gotten some solid contributions from their freshmen position players in recent weeks, and it has sparked an offensive uptick for Arizona. Shortstop Jacob Blas has started the last eight games for Arizona and is 11 for 29 in that span for a .379 batting average. He's driven in eight in those eight games with three extra-base hits and four walks, while scoring seven runs. Blas has hardly been the only freshman to spark Arizona's offense. Designated hitter Tate Soderstrom is 5 for his last 14 (.357) in his last seven games played with three doubles and a triple. He's also drawn one walk in three straight games. Additionally, Donta Williams earned the start Saturday against Nicholls State and was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI and his first career home run.
 
No Runs for You: Never in the Pac-12 era has an Arizona team given up fewer runs through 26 games than the 2018 Wildcats. Through 26 games, Arizona has surrendered just 78 total runs, which is the fewest since Arizona joined the Pac-10/12 in 1978. The 78 runs allowed are the fewest by an Arizona team since 1974 when the Jerry Kindall-led Wildcats allowed just 62 runs through 26 games. That year, Arizona went 58-6 and won the WAC Championship. This year, Arizona has given up more than five runs in a game just once, and has held opponents to three runs or fewer in 16 of 26 games. In the Pac-10/12 era, the fewest runs allowed through 23 games came in 2011 when the Cats gave up 101 total runs. Arizona has allowed seven hits or fewer in 16 of 26 games to start the year, keeping the scoring opportunities at an absolute minimum.
 
What a Start: Arizona pitching has set the tone for the season thus far. Arizona has a staff ERA of just 2.58 so far this season, which is the fifth-best mark in the country and third-best among Power 5 Conference teams. Arizona has allowed just 192 hits in 234 total innings. The pitching staff is averaging 7.38 hits per nine innings, which is the 20^th best mark in the country. Wildcat pitchers have combined to strike out 197, while allowing 93 walks. Opposing batters are hitting just .229 against Arizona pitching with 41 extra-base hits in 26 games. It's been a collective effort for the Wildcats thus far with several different arms contributing to the early season success. Cody Deason, who has had the Friday night honors so far this season, has just a 1.62 ERA in 39 innings. Michael Flynn and Avery Weems have also logged 25 or more innings. Flynn is 4-1 with a 3.23 ERA. Juan Aguilera and Tylor Megill have both logged more than 15 innings this year, with Aguilera sporting a 1.45 ERA and Megill at 1.62.
National Team Leaders in ERA

School	Staff ERA
Stetson	2.08
Stanford	2.10
Louisiana Tech	2.26
UCLA	2.43
Arizona	2.58

 
 
Digging Deeper: Coach Dave Lawn's pitching staff has done several things very well early in the season. First, left-handed hitters are batting just .230 against Arizona pitching, combining to go 91 for 395 so far. Right-handed starters Cody Deason and Michael Flynn have been especially tough on lefties, allowing them to go just 27 for 140 for a .192 average. Another area where Arizona pitchers have excelled is with runners on base. Opposing hitters are just 86 for 377 with runners on for a .228 average. And once Arizona pitchers get to two outs, there's a good shot they're finishing off the inning clean. Opposing batters are just 48 for 253 (.190) with two outs against Arizona pitching. In fact, North Dakota State had just one hit with two outs in three games against the Wildcats. With runners in scoring position, it's not much better with the opposition hitting 50 for 221 (.226) in that situation.
 
Arizona Pitching By the Numbers

• 2.58 – Staff ERA, 5^th best in country
• .229 -- Batting Average Against
• 5 – Home Runs Allowed, tied fewest in Pac-12
• 78 – Total Runs Allowed, fewest by an Arizona team since 1974
• .190 – Batting Average Against with 2 outs
• .230 – Batting Average Against by left-handed hitting
• .226 – Batting Average Against with runners in scoring position
• 7.38 hits allowed per nine innings, 20^th best in the country

 
Dominant Deason: Through six starts, junior right-hander Cody Deason has looked a lot like a Friday night starter in the Pac-12 should look. Deason is 3-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 39 innings. He's second in the Pac-12 in strikeouts with 41, fifth in ERA and third in innings pitched. He's given up just seven earned runs on the season and has opposing batters hitting just .183 against him. Deason got the Opening Day start against Bryant and threw seven shutout innings. He walked five, but gave up just three hits and paced the Cats in a 4-0 win. The next week, against San Diego State, Deason went just 5 1/3 innings, but battled, giving up two runs and striking out six, which matched a career high. Against Minnesota, Deason again went seven innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run, while again striking out six.  In his fourth start of the season, Deason went seven innings, allowing one earned run and striking out a career-high nine. After giving up a double in the first inning, Deason faced the minimum from innings two to seven. Against Washington State, Deason punched out 10, establishing a new career high. The junior has lefties hitting 14 for 77 against him, and batters are just 6 for 40 against him with two outs, showing he knows how to shut down an inning. With runners on, Deason is limiting hitters to a .217 average, seeing hitters go 10 for 46. He's allowed just seven extra-base hits in 39 innings.
Pac-12 leaders in Strikeouts
1. Luke Heimlich, Oregon State: 50
2. Eli Lingos, Arizona State: 44
3. Kris Bubic, Stanford: 42
4. Cody Deason, Arizona: 41
 
He's Been Juanderful: Spanning back to last season, senior right-handed pitcher Juan Aguilera has given up just three earned runs over his last 24 1/3 innings pitched. This season, Aguilera is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA in 18 2/3 innings. He made his first career start Tuesday against New Mexico State and tossed six shutout innings, needing just 64 pitches to churn through one of the top offenses in the country. He then came back against Washington State and threw five scoreless innings in relief of starter Avery Weems. Aguilera has struck out 18 and opposing batters are hitting just .235 against him. Over his final four appearances last year, Aguilera didn't give up a run over 5 2/3 innings, giving up just one hit, three walks and four strikeouts. He earned the win in Arizona's win over Delaware in the NCAA Tournament. He's been especially tough against right-handed hitters this year, forcing them to go just 6 for 43. Batters are also just 4 for 29 against him with runners on base and 1 for 19 with two outs. A product of nearby Sierra Vista, Aguilera has had a long journey to this point, spending the first two years of his college career at Cochise College. 
 
All Hail, Cesar: Cesar Salazar returns for his third consecutive season as Arizona's primary backstop. The junior from Hermosillo, Mexico, was named All-Pac-12 first-team last year, and was also a member of the Lubbock All-Regional team last year after a strong three-game performance in the postseason. Salazar's offensive production increased last season in several areas. Salazar improved his average, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks total, while striking out three fewer times. He's also posted back-to-back fielding percentages of .992 behind the plate. Salazar threw out 11 of 37 potential base stealers last season. This season, Salazar has thrown out five of 11 potential base stealers. He's also leading the team in batting with a .383 batting average. He's 31 for 81 and has reached base in all 24 games he's played in this season. He's been hit by a pitch eight times total this year. Salazar already has nine multi-hit games on the year, including four three-hit games, including last week against Arizona State where he went 3 for 4 with a run scored. Salazar had a season-high three RBI on Tuesday against New Mexico State with a bases loaded double.
 
First Up: Junior Alfonso Rivas manned left field as a freshman, before mainly handling the designated hitter role last year as a sophomore. This year, Rivas has moved to first base to take over for JJ Matijevic. Rivas was named first-team preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and a second-team pick by D1Baseball and a third-team selection by Baseball America. He's already backing it up this season. Rivas is batting .337 this season with two home runs and 24 RBI. Rivas went 3 for 5 with four RBI against San Diego State and hit his second home run of the season. In four games last week against San Diego State and North Dakota State, the left-handed hitting first baseman went 9 for 18 with 10 RBI, seven runs scored and a home run. He drove in at least two runs in each of his four games and scored at least one run. He had back-to-back three-hit games to open the week against San Diego State and Game 1 versus North Dakota State. Rivas is 15 for 36 on the year with runners in scoring positon and he's 18 for 46 against left-handed pitching.
Most RBI by an Arizona Underclassman Since 2000

Player (Class)	Year	RBI
Jeff Van Houten (Sophomore)	2003	72
Alfonso Rivas (Sophomore)	2017	63
Brad Glenn (Sophomore)	2007	62
Jordan Brown (Sophomore)	2004	57
Robert Refsnyder (Sophomore)	2011	55
Bobby Dalbec (Sophomore)	2015	53
Steve Selsky (Sophomore)	2010	52

 
The Cambino: Sophomore second baseman Cameron Cannon has had a strong start to his season. Cannon is hitting .350 through 26 games, having started every game at second this season. Cannon is second on the team in runs scored with 22 and tops in RBI with 26. He has an on-base percentage of .431. Cannon went 10 for 17 last week in four games against New Mexico State and Washington State and then went 4 for 9 in the first two games against Nicholls. Cannon is tied for the team lead with seven doubles this season and also tied for second with two triples. He has 88 assists at second base, which leads the Pac-12 by 12. He's hitting .377 against right-handed hitters this year and .436 with runners on base. He's also 18 for 39 (.462) with runners in scoring position and has 13 two-out RBI, which is the best mark on the team.