#9 ARIZONA vs. UTEP
APRIL 3 • TUCSON, ARIZ. (HILLENBRAND STADIUM)
APRIL 3 • TUCSON, ARIZ. (HILLENBRAND STADIUM)
Game Notes: #9/8 Arizona Wildcats (27-7) • UTEP Miners (10-24)
THE GAMES (Times MST)
35 | Wednesday, April 3 (2 p.m.) |
vs. 
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THIS WEEK: Ninth-ranked Arizona (27-7, 9-0 Pac-12) is set for five games in five days this week, beginning with a Wednesday doubleheader with UTEP (10-24, 4-8 CUSA) prior to heading to Salt Lake City for a three-game series at Utah (13-20, 2-4 Pac-12). The Wildcats will look to stay hot after their shutout sweep of Arizona State last weekend, which extended UA's season-long winning streak to nine games, including four straight shutouts. The Wildcats will face the Miners on Wednesday at Hillenbrand Stadium at 2 and 4 p.m. MST before heading to Salt Lake City to continue Pac-12 play. The Wildcats and Utes will meet at Friday (5 p.m.), Saturday (11 a.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. MST).
LEADING OFF
- Arizona swept Arizona State last weekend to improve to 9-0 in Pac-12 play for the fourth time in school history, joining 2017 (13-0), 2004 (9-0) and 1994 (23-0).
- The Wildcats shut out the Sun Devils, who entered the week as the No. 1 team in the nation in scoring by over a run, in all three games, marking UA's first ever Pac-12 shutout sweep since the conference moved to three-game series in 2010 and UA's first full-season shutout sweep of ASU in program history.
- The Cats lowered their Pac-12 ERA to a conference-best 0.52 and their overall ERA to 1.64, eighth best in the country.
- Taylor McQuillin tossed two-hit shutouts in both games 1 and 3 and was named Pac-12 and NFCA National Pitcher of the Week. It marked her fourth career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and first ever NFCA National Pitcher of the Week award.
- Dating back to Alyssa Denham's no-hitter vs. Oregon State on March 24, Arizona has thrown four consecutive shutouts (allowing just six total hits in the process), Arizona's longest in-conference shutout streak since May 3-8, 2008. In all, Arizona's pitchers have thrown 28.2 consecutive scoreless innings. Last season, the Cats had a 35.0 scoreless inning stretch from April 29-May12.
- Arizona has outscored its three conference opponents 66-8 over nine games. UA's offense has hit 21 home runs while its pitchers have allowed eight total runs.
- Dating back to last season, Arizona has won six consecutive Pac-12 series after its three sweeps to open conference play this season.
- Arizona has won 23 of its last 26 games, with its only three losses in that span coming to the current No. 2 (Oklahoma) and No. 3 (Florida State) ranked teams in the country by a combined four runs.
- The Wildcats are sixth in this week's NCAA RPI, a metric heavily relied on for NCAA Tournament seeding. UA is No. 9 in the NFCA Top 25.
- Through 34 games, Arizona has played 13 games against ranked opponents and has a 8-5 record in those games. All five losses are to top-eight opponents. Despite the 1-5 record, in six games vs. (current rankings) No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Alabama and No. 8 Florida, UA has been outscored by just two runs (21-23) and has 11 more hits (40-29).
- The Wildcats hit six home runs during their sweep of Arizona State, giving them 21 in nine Pac-12 games this season. UA is third in the nation with 63 homers (1.85/game), its most through 34 games since 2010 (63).
- Arizona is the only team in the country with three players with double-digit home runs; Jessie Harper leads the Pac-12 and is second nationally with 17 home runs, Dejah Mulipola is third in the Pac-12 and tied for eighth in the country with 13 home runs and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza is fifth in the league and tied for 24th nationally with 10 homers.
- Arizona's offense has been heating up with the weather. In the month of March (19 games), Arizona averaged 7.42 runs/game and is hitting 2.00 home runs per game after scoring 5.33 runs and hitting 1.67 homers per game in February (15 games).
- Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend four wins shy of Michigan's Carol Hutchins for the most career wins in NCAA softball history. Candrea, who is in his 32nd year of coaching at Arizona, has won 1,590 wins while Hutchins has 1,594 over 36 seasons of coaching.