Friday, February 21
San Diego, Calif.
2:00 PM
University of Arizona
vs
Southern Illinois
Photo by: Simon Asher / Arizona Athletics
Baseball Wraps Up Tony Gwynn Legacy Play on Sunday
02/20/2020 | Baseball
TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats (4-2) wrap up their play in the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament on Sunday morning against the Nebraska Cornhusker. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. MST.
Sophomore catcher Austin Wells picked up his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week award after his opening weekend performance in which he hit .545 with five extra-base hits and eight RBI. Wells and the rest of the Arizona offense have come out of the gates red hot, and currently ranks among the Top 20 teams in the nation in five different offensive categories.
Arizona's pitching staff has also enjoyed a hot start to the season, posting a 3.00 ERA, 13.50 K/9 rate, and .188 opponent batting average through four games under associate head coach Nate Yeskie's tutelage.
A complete tournament preview is below.
WELLS NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK: With a spectacular opening weekend under his belt, Arizona Wildcats sophomore catcher Austin Wells was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday afternoon. Across three games against the Albany Great Danes last weekend, Wells hit .545 (6-for-11) with four runs scored, four doubles, one home run, eight RBI, and three more walks (5) than strikeouts (2). He also registered a 1.182 slugging percentage and a .688 on-base percentage while leading the Wildcats to a series sweep to open up the 2020 season at Hi Corbett Field. This is the first Pac-12 weekly honor of Wells' career, and it gives the Wildcats back-to-back Pac-12 Players of the Week after outfielder Justin Wylie won the final award of the 2019 season. Wells kicked off the 2020 season with a mammoth performance on Friday night, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two doubles, one home run, four RBI, and a walk as the Wildcats rolled to a 12-7 Opening Night victory. He drew two walks and added a double in each of the Wildcats next two games and tacked on four more RBI in the Sunday series finale. The sophomore from Las Vegas has reeled in a staggering number of awards during his short time in Tucson, including being named the 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, unanimous selections to 2019 Freshman All-America lists, and consensus honors as a 2020 Preseason All-American.
STREAKONOMICS: Three Wildcats currently boast on-base streaks that have extended into double-digits, dating back to last season: Austin Wells (14 games), Dayton Dooney (12 games), and Ryan Holgate (10 games). Holgate also currently sports the longest active hit streak on the team at nine games — over that nine game stretch, he has hit .516 (16-for-31) with 11 runs scored, four doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI. Behind Holgate, the next longest hit streaks on the team belong to Branden Boissiere (8 games), Dooney (7 games), and Wells (7 games). Matthew Dyer's extended hit streak came to an end after 22 games on Sunday afternoon against Albany.
PITCH PERFECT: The early returns through four games on Arizona's 2020 pitching staff have been encouraging. Wildcat pitchers have combined to post a 13.50 K/9 rate, a significant increase from their 2019 mark of 7.52. Arizona's 2019 single-game high in strikeouts was set at 12, a mark the 2020 staff has already broken three times and fallen one shy of once. At the same time, the staff has dropped their BB/9 rate from 5.33 in 2019 by more than an average of one walk per game in 2020, all the way down to 4.25. The 13 pitchers used by the Wildcats so far this year have combined to limit opposing batters to a paltry .188 batting average and just six extra-base hits.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE: The Wildcats offense has picked up right where they left off in 2019, staying red hot through four games. Arizona as a team currently ranks Top 20 in the nation in doubles per game (4th, 4.00), on-base percentage (9th, .472), slugging percentage (15th, .558), batting average (16th, .341), and scoring (T-16th, 10.0 runs/game). Individually, Ryan Holgate ranks tied for sixth in the country with a .667 batting average while Austin Wells ranks tied for 15th with a .714 on-base percentage.
CATS COACHES: Arizona head coach Jay Johnson returns to lead the Wildcats for his fifth season in 2020. Since being hired in June 2015, Johnson has led Arizona to a record of 156-92 (.629) with a Pac-12 Conference mark of 62-59 (.512). Coach Johnson is joined by first-year associate head coach Nate Yeskie, fifth-year assistant coach Dave Lawn, and fifth-year volunteer assistant coach Marc Wanaka. Yeskie, the only new addition to the Wildcats coaching staff, joined Arizona after spending the last 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Oregon State — he replaces Sergio Brown, who departed for Cal State Fullerton last summer. Coaches Johnson, Yeskie, and Lawn have combined to produce 15 conference Pitchers of the year, 12 Players of the Year, 11 Freshmen of the Year, and four Defensive Players of the Year. They have also combined for 20 NCAA Regional appearances, eight NCAA Super Regional berths, and six trips to the College World Series.
RUNNING WILD: Arizona has scored at least one run in 98 straight games — it has not suffered a shutout loss since falling 1-0 at Washington on March 17, 2018. The Wildcats 98-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Pac-12, 25 more games than the next closest team, UCLA (73 games). Over the course of its 98-game scoring stretch, Arizona has been held to three runs or fewer just 12 times. On the flip side, during the streak they have scored five or more runs 43 times. UCLA and USC — the teams with the second- and third-longest scoring streaks, respectively — were both last shut out by pitching staffs coached by current Arizona associate head coach Nate Yeskie.
Sophomore catcher Austin Wells picked up his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week award after his opening weekend performance in which he hit .545 with five extra-base hits and eight RBI. Wells and the rest of the Arizona offense have come out of the gates red hot, and currently ranks among the Top 20 teams in the nation in five different offensive categories.
Arizona's pitching staff has also enjoyed a hot start to the season, posting a 3.00 ERA, 13.50 K/9 rate, and .188 opponent batting average through four games under associate head coach Nate Yeskie's tutelage.
A complete tournament preview is below.
| Date / Time (MST) | Opponent/Result | Arizona Pitcher | Opponent Pitcher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Feb. 21 | W, 6-5 | ||
| Saturday, Feb. 22 | L, 4-1 | ||
| Sunday, Feb. 23 / 11:00 AM | Nebraska | RHP Chandler Murphy (1-0, 0.00) | LHP Cade Povich (0-1, 0.00) |
Leading Off...
- Arizona makes the trip from Tucson to San Diego, Calif. to participate in the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament. The Wildcats will square off against Southern Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska during the weekend.
- This is Arizona's first time participating in the Gwynn since 2018. In their last appearance, the Wildcats went 1-2 with a win against Michigan (9-5) and losses to San Diego State (2-3) and San Diego (3-5).
- Sophomore catcher Austin Wells was tabbed as the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Tuesday, the first weekly honor of his career. In the opening week of games, Wells hit .545 with five extra base hits, eight RBI, a 1.182 slugging percentage, and a .688 on-base percentage.
- Arizona has scored at least one run in 98 straight games — it has not suffered a shutout loss since falling 1-0 at Washington on March 17, 2018. The Wildcats 98-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Pac-12.
- Through four games, the Wildcats pitching staff has posted a 13.50 K/9 rate, a significant increase from their 2019 mark of 7.52. Their BB/9 rate has dropped from 5.33 in 2019 to 4.25 in 2020.
- Sophomore catcher Austin Wells and junior catcher Matthew Dyer both picked up Preseason All-America nods. Wells from Collegiate Baseball (2nd), D1Baseball (2nd), Baseball America (2nd), Collegiate Baseball (2nd), and the NCBWA (3rd). Dyer from the NCBWA (1st).
WELLS NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK: With a spectacular opening weekend under his belt, Arizona Wildcats sophomore catcher Austin Wells was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday afternoon. Across three games against the Albany Great Danes last weekend, Wells hit .545 (6-for-11) with four runs scored, four doubles, one home run, eight RBI, and three more walks (5) than strikeouts (2). He also registered a 1.182 slugging percentage and a .688 on-base percentage while leading the Wildcats to a series sweep to open up the 2020 season at Hi Corbett Field. This is the first Pac-12 weekly honor of Wells' career, and it gives the Wildcats back-to-back Pac-12 Players of the Week after outfielder Justin Wylie won the final award of the 2019 season. Wells kicked off the 2020 season with a mammoth performance on Friday night, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two doubles, one home run, four RBI, and a walk as the Wildcats rolled to a 12-7 Opening Night victory. He drew two walks and added a double in each of the Wildcats next two games and tacked on four more RBI in the Sunday series finale. The sophomore from Las Vegas has reeled in a staggering number of awards during his short time in Tucson, including being named the 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, unanimous selections to 2019 Freshman All-America lists, and consensus honors as a 2020 Preseason All-American.
STREAKONOMICS: Three Wildcats currently boast on-base streaks that have extended into double-digits, dating back to last season: Austin Wells (14 games), Dayton Dooney (12 games), and Ryan Holgate (10 games). Holgate also currently sports the longest active hit streak on the team at nine games — over that nine game stretch, he has hit .516 (16-for-31) with 11 runs scored, four doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI. Behind Holgate, the next longest hit streaks on the team belong to Branden Boissiere (8 games), Dooney (7 games), and Wells (7 games). Matthew Dyer's extended hit streak came to an end after 22 games on Sunday afternoon against Albany.
PITCH PERFECT: The early returns through four games on Arizona's 2020 pitching staff have been encouraging. Wildcat pitchers have combined to post a 13.50 K/9 rate, a significant increase from their 2019 mark of 7.52. Arizona's 2019 single-game high in strikeouts was set at 12, a mark the 2020 staff has already broken three times and fallen one shy of once. At the same time, the staff has dropped their BB/9 rate from 5.33 in 2019 by more than an average of one walk per game in 2020, all the way down to 4.25. The 13 pitchers used by the Wildcats so far this year have combined to limit opposing batters to a paltry .188 batting average and just six extra-base hits.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE: The Wildcats offense has picked up right where they left off in 2019, staying red hot through four games. Arizona as a team currently ranks Top 20 in the nation in doubles per game (4th, 4.00), on-base percentage (9th, .472), slugging percentage (15th, .558), batting average (16th, .341), and scoring (T-16th, 10.0 runs/game). Individually, Ryan Holgate ranks tied for sixth in the country with a .667 batting average while Austin Wells ranks tied for 15th with a .714 on-base percentage.
CATS COACHES: Arizona head coach Jay Johnson returns to lead the Wildcats for his fifth season in 2020. Since being hired in June 2015, Johnson has led Arizona to a record of 156-92 (.629) with a Pac-12 Conference mark of 62-59 (.512). Coach Johnson is joined by first-year associate head coach Nate Yeskie, fifth-year assistant coach Dave Lawn, and fifth-year volunteer assistant coach Marc Wanaka. Yeskie, the only new addition to the Wildcats coaching staff, joined Arizona after spending the last 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Oregon State — he replaces Sergio Brown, who departed for Cal State Fullerton last summer. Coaches Johnson, Yeskie, and Lawn have combined to produce 15 conference Pitchers of the year, 12 Players of the Year, 11 Freshmen of the Year, and four Defensive Players of the Year. They have also combined for 20 NCAA Regional appearances, eight NCAA Super Regional berths, and six trips to the College World Series.
RUNNING WILD: Arizona has scored at least one run in 98 straight games — it has not suffered a shutout loss since falling 1-0 at Washington on March 17, 2018. The Wildcats 98-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Pac-12, 25 more games than the next closest team, UCLA (73 games). Over the course of its 98-game scoring stretch, Arizona has been held to three runs or fewer just 12 times. On the flip side, during the streak they have scored five or more runs 43 times. UCLA and USC — the teams with the second- and third-longest scoring streaks, respectively — were both last shut out by pitching staffs coached by current Arizona associate head coach Nate Yeskie.
Active Pac-12 Scoring Streaks
| School | Scoring Streak | Last Shutout Loss (Score) |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 98 games | March 17, 2018 at Washington (0-1) |
| UCLA | 73 games | May 24, 2018 at Oregon State (0-2) |
| USC | 64 games | May 18, 2018 vs. Oregon State (0-4) |
| Stanford | 51 games | March 7, 2019 vs. Texas (0-4) |
| Oregon | 22 games | April 20, 2019 vs. Stanford (0-10) |
| Utah | 18 games | April 26, 2019 at UCLA (0-5) |
| Washington St. | 12 games | May 11, 2019 vs. UCLA (0-10) |
| Washington | 7 games | May 18, 2019 at UCLA (0-4) |
| Oregon St. | 6 games | May 25, 2019 vs. USC (0-5) |
| California | 2 games | Feb. 15, 2020 vs. Long Beach St. (0-4) |
| Arizona St. | 2 games | Feb. 15, 2020 vs. Michigan (0-5) |
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