TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Wildcats (4-0) venture to Houston, Texas for their first road contest of the season on Wednesday, February 20 against the Rice Owls. First pitch is set for 5:30 PM MST. 

Below is a full preview:
 

Date	Time (MST)/Result	Wildcats Pitcher	Owls Pitcher
Wednesday, Feb. 20	5:30 PM	TBA	TBA

 

Leading Off...

• The Wildcats venture out for their first road trip of the 2019 season, beginning with a mid-week contest against the Rice Owls and concluding with a three-game weekend series against the Houston Cougars.
• The Wildcats and Owls have squared off 10 times total, with the series currently even at five wins apiece. Rice won the last contest between the two schools, 4-3, on February 21, 2016. That game was the final matchup of a three-game series, one that Arizona won two games to one. Wildcats head coach Jay Johnson's first win with Arizona was a 8-1 decision against Rice in Houston on February 19, 2016.
• Arizona was named among the nation's top teams by two separate polls this week: The Wildcats check in at No. 24 on the Collegiate Baseball poll and No. 30 on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
• Outfielder Ryan Holgate was named the College Sports Madness National Player of the Week on Monday after posting three home runs and 12 RBI through his first four collegiate games last weekend.
• Arizona has gone 38-37 (.507) on the road across the last three seasons, with a 22-14 (.611) record in non-conference road contests.
• The Wildcats roster features 18 returning players and 17 newcomers. The team returns five starting position players and one starting pitcher from the 2018 squad.

THAT'S OFFENSIVE: The Wildcats currently lead the Pac-12 in nearly every offensive category...Arizona paces the circuit in batting average (.390), slugging percentage (.685), on-base percentage (.551), runs scored, (69), doubles (17), triples (4), home runs (6), total bases (100), and walks (47)...In addition to strong team numbers, individual Wildcat batters appear among the conference's Top 10 players 26 times....Over the first four games of the season, Arizona is averaging 17.15 runs/game, 14.25 hits/game, 6.75 extra-base hits/game, and 11.75 walks/game...Arizona currently has five players that have started in all four games this year and are hitting over the .400 mark.

AGAINST RICE: The Wildcats and Owls have played a total of 10 games against each other, with the all-time series currently tied at five games apiece...Most recently, the two schools squared off for a three-game series in Houston to open the 2016 season; the Wildcats won that series two games to one...Arizona head coach Jay Johnson earned his first win with the Wildcats in an 8-1 victory over Rice on February 19, 2016...The Wilcats current roster features three individuals (one player, two coaching staff) that were on Arizona's roster during that most recent Rice series: left-handed pitcher Randy Labaut; graduate manager Louis Boyd (INF); and director of player development Cody Ramer (INF)...Labaut did not play in the 2016 series.

DAY ONE DINGER: Wildcats C/1B Austin Wells hit a three-run home run in his first collegiate at-bat on Friday night against UMass Lowell, becoming the first Arizona player to hit a HR in their first college AB since Jon Gaston accmplished the feat in 2006 (Feb. 3, Loyola Marymount)...Prior to Gaston, the feat was last accomplished by Nick Hundley in 2003 (Jan. 30, Brigham Young)...The last two players to hit a home run in the first series of their freshman year were Johnny Field (2011) and Joey Rickard (2010), both of which went to the same high school as Wells, Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas, Nevada.

RYAN HOL-GREAT: After the first week of play, Wildcats outfielder Ryan Holgate leads the Pac-12 in home runs (3) and RBI (12), while ranking second in the conference with a 1.071 slugging percentage...His mammoth opening series performance earned him the honor of being named the College Sports Madness National Player of the Week...He is the first Arizona player honored by College Sports Madness since Cody Deason was named their Pac-12 Player of the Week on May 7, 2018...Holgate's 12 RBI are the most recorded by a Wildcats player in the first four games of the season since Colin Porter drove in 12 in the first four contests of the 1998 season...Porter hit .500 (8x16) with three doubles, one triple, and two home runs over that stretch.

GOING STREAKING: Junior outfielder Matt Frazier, junior infielder Nick Quintana, and junior infielder Cameron Cannon all currently sport active 12-game on base streaks dating back to last season...Frazier has hit .357 (15x42) with 13 runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run, 16 RBI, and 10 walks during his streak...Quintana has posted a batting average of .386 (17x44) with 15 runs scored, four doubles, three home runs, 13 RBI, and 12 walks over the course of his streak...Cannon has hit .422 (19x45) with 22 runs scored, 13 doubles, one home run, 11 RBI, and 12 walks across his streak...The longest on-base streak posted last year by a player returning for the 2019 season was a 17-game streak posted by infielder Jacob Blas.

DOUBLE DOWN: Arizona infielder Cameron Cannon kicked off the season with a red-hot opening series against UMass Lowell last weekend, collecting eight hits in 14 at-bats...Cannon is currently hitting .571 on the year, tied for the third-best mark in the Pac-12 Conference...He also ranks among the conference leaders in runs scored (1st, 11), doubles (1st, 6), total bases (T-2nd, 14), slugging percentage (T-3rd, 1.000), hits (T-2nd, 8), and on-base percentage (5th, .684)...Cannon smacked a team-best 21 doubles in 56 games last season; the Arizona single-season record for doubles is 30, set by Dave Stegman in 1976.

RUN THIS WAY: The Wildcats have scored 69 runs through their first four games of th year, the most the club has scored in an opening series since at least 1998...The mark also stands as the most runs scored in the school's first four games over that same span, with the next closest opening four-game stretch seeing 60 runs scored in 1998...Arizona's 69 runs this year are the most in the Pac-12 and 23 more than second-place Arizona State, who have scored 46 runs this year.

THE MID-WEEKENDERS: The Wildcats have notched 10 consecutive mid-week (Mon-Wed) games, dating back to a February 27, 2018 5-4 victory over New Mexico State...Arizona's last mid-week loss was a 1-0 decision dropped to Arkansas on February 21, 2018...Since Jay Johnson took over as head coach of the Wildcats in 2016, Arizona has posted a record of 25-7 (.781) in mid-week contests.

NICE TO MEET YOU: Arizona had 16 players make their Wildcat debuts over the weekend series against UMass Lowell...Four players made their first appearance with Arizona, while 12 made their collegiate debuts...Making an Arizona debut: C/UTL Matthew Dyer, RHP Nate Brown, LHP Andrew Nardi, and RHP Vince Vannelle...Making collegiate debut: C Kobe Kato, INF/RHP Tony Bullard, INF/1B Dayton Dooney, C/1B Austin Wells, RHP Bryce Collins, OF Tyler Casagrande, RHP George Arias Jr., 1B Ryan Archibald, RHP Quinn Flanagan, OF Ryan Holgate, OF/1B/LHP Branden Boissiere, and LHP Randy Abshier. The newcomers position players combined to hit .364 with 32 runs scored, two doubles, two triples, six home runs, and 34 RBI...The newcomer pitchers combined to post a 3.13 ERA (8ERx23.0IP) with 27 strikeouts.

COACHING STAFF: Head coach Jay Johnson returns for his fourth season leading the Wildcats field staff...Johnson was hired on June 8, 2015 and has since led Arizona to a record of 125-67...The Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament in each of Johnson's first two seasons, making him the first coach in school history to achieve that feat...Johnson is joined by assistant coaches Sergio Brown and Dave Lawn, and volunteer assistant coach Marc Wanaka...The 2019 season marks the fourth consecutive season for the entire staff, which ties the Wildcats with UCLA for the most stable coaching staff in the Pac-12.
WINNING WAYS: Under the guidance of head coach Jay Johnson, the Wildcats have logged 125 wins in three-plus seasons, the second-highest total in the Pac-12 since 2016 (first: Oregon State, 149)...The next closest team is Stanford, with 122 wins since 2016...During that three-year stretch, Arizona is one of only three Pac-12 programs with 100+ wins; the average wins total of the eight other schools during that period is just 81...Of the Wildcats 125 wins since 2016, 74 have come at home, 38 have been tallied on the road, and 13 have been earned at neutral sites.

AMONG THE BEST: Arizona's 2018 signing class has been tabbed among the best in the nation by multiple news outlets, ranking No. 3 according to Collegiate Baseball, No. 11 by D1Baseball.com, and No. 13 by Baseball America...The No. 3 ranking from Collegiate Baseball is the highest mark given to the program by that outlet since 1990...The 2018 class featured six players who were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft: outfielder Ryan Holgate (32nd round, Minnesota Twins), right-handed pitcher George Arias Jr. (34th round, San Diego Padres), right-handed pitcher Ian Mejia (35th round, New York Mets), catcher Austin Wells (35th round, New York Yankees), right-handed pitcher Bryce Collins (39th round, Minnesota Twins), and left-handed pitcher Andrew Nardi (39th round, Washington Nationals)...Also notable from the 2018 class is infielder/right-handed pitcher Tony Bullard, who was ranked No. 498 on Baseball America's Top 500 draft prospects list, and right-handed pitcher Nate Brown, a transfer from Florida who was a member of the Gators 2017 National Championship team.

SUMMER STANDOUTS: After highly-successful summer campaigns, head coach Jay Johnson tabbed right-handed pitcher Preston Price as Arizona's Summer Pitcher of the Year, while outfielder Justin Wylie was honored as the Wildcats Summer Player of the Year...Price pitched for the Anchorage Bucs of the Alaska Baseball League over the summer, going 3-2 with a 3.07 ERA over 41 innings of work...Wylie logged time with the Bethesda Big Train of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, hitting .414 with 12 doubles, seven home runs, and 25 RBI across 32 games...Wylie led the league in batting average and ranked third in home runs.

WHAT AN HONOR: Wildcats infielders Nick Quintana and Cameron Cannon have earned numerous preseason accolades leading into the 2019 campaign...Quintana was named a Preseason Second-Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a Preseason Third-Team All-American by Baseball America, D1Baseball.com, Perfect Game, and Collegiate Baseball...Quintana was also selected to the 2019 Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list; the Golden Spikes Award is presented annually to the nation's top amateur baseball player...Cannon earned Preseason Second-Team All-American recognition from D1Baseball.com...Also from D1Baseball.com, Quintana was listed as the No. 3 third baseman in the country, while Cannon checked in as the No. 2 ranked second baseman in the nation.

STICK WITH NICK: After logging an impressive freshman campaign in 2017, infielder Nick Quintana doubled down with an even more impressive sophomore turn in 2018...Quintana finished last season ranking among the Pac-12 conference leaders in home runs (T-6th, 14), RBI (8th, 55), total bases (T-10th, 125), and slugging percentage (11th, .592)...His 14 home runs last year were the most swatted by an Arizona underclassman since Bobby Dalbec crushed 15 in 2015...Of his 14 home runs in 2018, 10 of them came while playing at Hi Corbett Field, while all 14 came in the final 31 games of the season...His power streak continued into the summer, where he played for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cap Cod Baseball League and ranked second on the team with five home runs.  

HOME SWEET HOME: The Wildcats 2019 roster features nine players who call the state of Arizona home: left-handed pitcher Gil Luna (Casa Grande), catcher/utility Matthew Dyer (Glendale), right-handed pitcher Ian Mejia (Sahuarita), outfielder Justin Wylie (Chandler), left-handed pitcher Avery Weems (Flagstaff), outfielder Blake Paugh (Scottsdale), infielder Cameron Cannon (Glendale), right-handed pitcher George Arias Jr. (Tucson), and right-handed pitcher Quinn Flanagan (Chandler)...The only state with more representation on the Wildcats roster is California, which serves as the home state for 17 players...Other home states included on the roster include Nevada (3), Hawaii (2), Wisconsin (1), Virginia (1), Ohio (1), and Maryland (1).

THE OTHER GUYS: Since head coach Jay Johnson took over for the Wildcats, the club has posted a record of 78-22 (.780) in non-conference competition...Arizona has won 19 consecutive non-conference competitions dating back to March 6, 2018, and has never lost a non-conference series since 2016...Arizona's last non-conference loss was a 3-2 decision against Michigan State on March 4, 2018...As a team in 2018, the Wildcats hit .300 with 80 extra-base hits and registered a 2.48 team ERA across a 26-game non-conference slate.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Wildcats freshman right-handed pitcher George Arias Jr. is the son of former Arizona baseball player George Arias, who played for the Wildcats in 1993...During his one season with Arizona, Arias Sr. appeared in 60 games and hit .345 with 23 home runs and 75 RBI...His 23 RBI still stand as the second-most in a single season in school history...Arias Sr. went on to play Major League Baseball with the California/Anaheim Angels and San Diego Padres...Arias Jr. is a native of Tucson, Ariz. where he attended Tucson High School, playing under head coach Oscar Romero.

NOW TO THE POLLS: In a polling of the Pac-12 baseball coaches, the Arizona Wildcats were the preseason pick to finish fourth in the conference for the 2019 season...Arizona is behind UCLA, Stanford, and 3 Oregon State, all three teams who have been ranked among the top 12 teams in the country by USA Today, D1Baseball.com, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Collegiate Baseball, and Baseball America...Arizona landed one spot above the Washington Huskies, who advanced all the way to the College World Series following the 2018 season...After opening the year with four straight convincing wins, the Wildcats have jumped into the national rankings in two polls...Arizona is ranked No. 24 in the country according to Collegiate Baseball Magazine, and No. 30 in the nation according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.