TUCSON, Ariz. --- The Arizona Wildcats close out their regular season schedule with a trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Washington State Cougars this Thursday through Saturday at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman, Wash.

Arizona took the series opener in commanding fashion, collecting 24 hits on the way to a 21-4 victory. Every member of the Wildcats starting lineup notched at least one base hit, while eight-of-nine collected at least one RBI. Wildcats starting pitcher Randy Labaut cruised through seven innings and has now logged a quality start in five of his last six outings.

The Cats mounted a pair of rallies in game two for a 10-4 come-from-behind victory that clinched the series win. Justin Wylie hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the sixth and Arizona pulled away with five runs in the top of the ninth inning to complete their ninth straight win.

The Wildcats will go for the series sweep on Saturday afternoon in Pullman with a first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

A complete series preview is below.
 

Date	Time (MST) / Results	Live Stats	Wildcats Pitcher	Cougars Pitcher
Thursday, May 23	W, 21-4
Friday, May 24	W, 10-4
Saturday, May 25	12:00 PM	Live Stats	RHP Quinn Flanagan (7-3, 4.84)	RHP Brandon White (2-7, 5.76)

TV: Pac-12 Network with Greg Heister (play-by-play) and Kevin Stocker (analyst) on the call
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network with Brian Jeffries on the call - 1290 AM KCUB | TuneIn

All-Time Series: Arizona leads, 44-25
Last Meeting: Arizona won two-of-three games against Washington State last year March 23-25 in Tucson, Ariz.

Leading Off...

• Arizona will wrap up their regular season schedule with a three-game conference series against the Washington State Cougars in Pullman, Wash.
• The Wildcats and Cougars have played each other 68 times in program history, with Arizona currently holding a 43-25 lead in the all-time series. Most recently, the Wildcats won two-of-three games against the Cougars last year March 23-25 in Tucson, Ariz. 
• Under head coach Jay Johnson, Arizona has gone 6-3 against Washington State, winning all three series 2-1. The Cougars are the only team in the Pac-12 that the Jay Johnson Wildcats have never lost a series to.
• Freshman catcher Austin Wells has scored 67 runs and picked up 52 RBI this season, making him just the second Arizona freshman since 1976 to post 50+ runs and 50+ RBI in a season.
• Infielder Cameron Cannon has hit 29 doubles this season, the most among all Division I players in the country (next: 27, Jake Garella, Saint Louis) and one shy of the Wildcats single-season record (30: Dave Stegman, 1976; JJ Matijevic, 2017).
• Arizona has logged 91 consecutive games scoring at least one run, giving the Cats the longest active scoring streak in the Pac-12. The Wildcats were last shut out March 17, 2018 at Washington, over 430 days ago. Arizona hasn't gone an entire season without being shut out since 2013.

NOW TRENDING: The Wildcats have won seven straight games, and 10 of their last 11...Arizona has notched four straight series sweeps by taking three-of-three from Oregon, two-of-two from USC, two-of-two from Sam Houston State, and three-of-three from Penn State...The Cougars won their most recent game, but prior to that dropped six straight games from May 10-17...Washington State has not won a Pac-12 conference series since taking two-of-three games from Arizona State in late March 2018...The Wildcats and Cougars have played each other 68 times in program history, with Arizona currently holding a 43-25 lead in the all-time series...Most recently, the Wildcats won two-of-three games against the Cougars last year March 23-25 in Tucson, Ariz...Under head coach Jay Johnson, Arizona has gone 6-3 against Washington State, winning all three series 2-1...The Cougars are the only team in the Pac-12 that the Jay Johnson Wildcats have never lost a series to...Arizona's offense has collected 10+ base hits in 14 of their last 16 games, and over that stretch has combined to hit .364 (219x602) while averaging 11.4 runs per game...The Wildcats have hit at least one home run in seven straight games, tied for the longest homer streak of the season.

KNOW YOUR FOE: The Cougars enter the series with an overall record of 11-39-1 and sit in last place in the Pac-12 with a conference mark of 3-23-1...The Cougars rank last or second-to-last in the Pac-12 in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (10th, .263), slugging percentage (11th, .354), and on-base percentage (11th, .339)...WSU is led offensively by outfielder Danny Sinatro, who at .314 (58x185) is the only qualified Cougars player hitting above the .300 mark...Hayden Rosenkrantz leads the Cougars regular starting pitchers with a 5.43 ERA (32ERx53.0IP) in 13 games (eight starts), while two-way player Tyson Guerrero has been their most effective reliever, notching a 3.66 ERA (13ERx32.0IP) in 18 appearances (three starts).

SINCE LAST TIME: Since the last set of game notes, the Wildcats swept a three-game series on the road at Penn State...Arizona received stellar performances from their three starting pitchers Randy Labaut, Andrew Nardi, and Quinn Flanagan, who combined to go 3-0 with 24 strikeouts and a 0.47 ERA (1ERx19.1IP) during the series...Both Labaut (9 K) and Flanagan (8 K) set new single-game career-high marks in strikeouts at Penn State...Three players — Nick Quintana (6), Dayon Dooney (5), and Austin Wells (5) — collected at least five RBI during the Penn State series, while Quintana (.467/7x15) and Dooney (.455/5x11) both posted batting averages north of .450.

WILDCATS WITH WILD BATS: The Arizona offense has established themselves as one of the top units in the entire nation...The Cats currently lead the Pac-12 and rank among the top 10 teams in the country in nearly every major offensive category...Arizona leads the Pac-12 in batting average (.320), on-base percentage (.429), runs scored (502), hits (606), RBI (459), doubles (147), triples (27), total bases (984), and walks (335) while rankings second in slugging percentage (.520) and fourth in home runs (59)...The Wildcats rank within the top 10 teams in the country in doubles (1st, 147), doubles per game (1st, 2.77), on-base percentage (2nd, .429), runs scored (2nd, 502), scoring (2nd, 9.5 runs/game), slugging percentage (2nd, .527), hits (5th, 606), triples (5th, 27), walks (6th, 335), and triples per game (6th, 0.51)...Through 53 games, the Wildcats are averaging 9.5 runs per game — Arizona has not posted a full season averaging over 9.0 runs per game since the 1998 squad averaged 9.8 runs per game...Currently, the Cats are averaging 11.4 hits per game and 4.4 extra-base hits per game.

SOUTHPAW SURGING: Randy Labaut, the Wildcats regular Friday night starting pitcher, has continually gotten stronger as the season has continued...Over his last seven starts, Labaut has posted a team-best 4.12 ERA (20ERx43.2IP), issued just 18 walks, and struck out 40 batters...During that stretch — dating back to April 5 against Washington — Labaut has turned in five quality starts (6.0+ IP, three or fewer ER allowed) and led the Wildcats to a record of 5-2 while lowering his season ERA over a full run from 6.82 to 5.31...In his most recent start, on May 16 at Penn State, Labaut worked 6.1 one-run innings and struck out a career-high nine batters...He has earned the win in four straight decisions, improving his season record to 7-3.

FRESHMAN FRENZY: Freshman catcher/first baseman Austin Wells has put together one of the most compelling Freshman All-American campaigns in the country, and has cemented himself as one of Arizona's top freshman performers in recent history...Currently, his .350 batting average, 67 runs scored, and 52 RBI all stand among the five best marks posted by Wildcats freshmen since 1976...His 67 runs scored are the most in the Pac-12, tied for 10th-most in the country, the most among all Division I freshmen in the nation, and the most scored by an Arizona freshman since Keoni DeRenne scored 68 in 1998...Wells' 52 RBI are tied for seventh most in the Pac-12, ninth most among all Division I freshmen in the country, and the most collected by a Wildcat freshman since Keoni DeRenne registered 55 in 1998...His .350 batting average is the tied for the 10th-best mark in the Pac-12, tied for the fifth-best mark among all Division I freshmen, and the best mark swatted by a Cats freshman since Brady Boyer hit .351 in 2003 (min. 100 AB)...Finally, his five triples are tied for third most in the Pac-12 and are tied for the second most legged out by an Arizona freshman since Brad Boyer hit eight triples in 2003 (also with five triples: Johnny Field, 2011; T.J. Steele, 2006)...Wells is only the second Arizona freshman since 1976 to collect 50 runs scored and 50 RBI in a season (first: Keoni DeRenne, 1998: 68 runs, 55 RBI).

Best Arizona Freshman Performances (Since 1976)

	R	Player		RBI	Player		AVG	Player
1.	71	Brad Boyer, 2003	1.	68	Shelley Duncan, 1999	1.	.371	Willie Morales, 1991
2.	68	Keoni DeRenne, 1998	2.	55	Keoni DeRenne, 1998	2.	.370	Brian Anderson, 2001
3.	67	Austin Wells, 2019	3.	52	Austin Wells, 2019	3.	.361	Nick Hundley, 2003
4.	64	Damon Mashore, 1989	4.	51	Joey Rickard, 2010	4.	.351	Brad Boyer, 2003
5.	58	Jason Donald, 2004	5.	48	Dayton Dooney, 2019	5.	.350	Austin Wells, 2019

Austin Wells: Freshman All-American

Category	Stat	Pac-12 Rank	Division I Fresh. Rank
Runs scored	67	1st	1st
On-Base Percentage	.462	T-8th	6th
Batting Average	.350	T-10th	T-5th
Hits	72	T-6th	T-7th
RBI	52	T-7th	9th

IT'S HOW YOU FINISH: Since the calendar rolled over to May, Arizona has gone 10-1, including a perfect 5-0 mark in Pac-12 conference play...Over the last three weeks of play, Arizona has improved their RPI ranking by 30 spots from 75 to 45...Under the leadership of head coach Jay Johnson, the Wildcats have combined to go 39-15 during the month of May...Arizona went 9-5 in May in 2018 and 10-4 in both 2017 and 2016...This May, the Cats have hit .379 (158x417) with a .647 slugging percentage and a .477 on-base percentage while the pitching staff has posted a 4.22 ERA (46ERx98.0IP) while limiting opposing hitters to a .256 batting average...Infielder Cameron Cannon leads the team with a .521 (25x48) batting average in May, while fellow infielder Nick Quintana paces the team with 25 RBI in just 11 games this month...All but two qualified Arizona players has hit at least .310 during the month of May.

RISPY BUSINESS: Arizona junior third baseman Nick Quintana has picked up 72 RBI this season, enough to lead the team and the Pac-12 while ranking seventh among all Division I players in the country and second among all Power Five conference players...The Wildcats haven't had a player finished among the top 15 in the nation in RBI since Rob Refsnyder collected 66 RBI to tie for 12th in 2012...Quintana has improved in this category every year he's been at Arizona, having collected 38 RBI as a freshman 2017 and 55 in 2018 as a junior...He has accomplished this largely by thriving at the plate with runners in scoring position — for his career he has hit .356 with runners on second or third base...This year he has logged a batting average of .404 (38x94) with RISP, the best mark on the team among players with at least 50 AB with RISP.

Nick Quintana Career Development (career-best marks in bold)

Year	AVG	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SLG	OBP
2017	.293	42	61	17	1	6	38	33	.471	.394
2018	.313	49	66	17	0	14	55	32	.592	.413
2019	.346	60	72	17	0	14	72	44	.630	.469

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Infielder Cameron Cannon has smacked 29 doubles through 53 games this season...As of games played May 20, Cannon's 29 two-baggers are the most among all NCAA Division I baseball players (next: 27, Jake Garella, Saint Louis)...He is one of just 20 players nationally with over 20 doubles this season...Cannon alone has accounted for nearly 1/5th of the Wildcats nation-leading 147 doubles — without his contribution, Arizona would rank 15th...Cannon has registered multiple doubles in a game six times this year, and has swatted at least one double in 21-of-53 games...The Arizona single-season record for doubles is 30, set by Dave Stegman in 1976 and tied by JJ Matijevic in 2017...Cannon is currently on pace for 31 doubles through the remainder of the regular season...His 54 career doubles rank eighth all-time in Arizona program history.

Arizona Single-Season Doubles Leaders

	Player	Doubles	Years
1.	Dave Stegman	30	1976
	JJ Matijevic	30	2017
3.	Cameron Cannon	29	2019
4.	Todd Trafton	27	1986
5.	Terry Francona	26	1980
	Willie Morales	26	1993
7.	Trevor Crowe	25	2005