TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats (9-5) and Houston Cougars (5-8) are set for a Sunday rubber match at Hi Corbett Field after splitting the first two games of their three-game series.

Arizona recently hit the road to Austin, Texas and came back sporting an 8-6 victory over the Texas Longhorns. The Wildcats are winners of three of the last four games, and have averaged nearly 11 runs per game over that stretch.

Houston is making their first trip to Tucson since 2001. The Cats and Coogs have played seven times in program history, most recently a three-game series in Houston during the early stretch of the 2019 season. 

A complete series preview is below.
 

Date	Time (MST) / Result	Arizona Pitcher	Houston Pitcher
Friday, March 6	W, 7-1
Saturday, March 7	L, 1-3
Sunday, March 8	1:00 PM	TBA	TBA

Leading Off...

• Arizona returns home to host a three-game series against the Houston Cougars this Friday–Sunday at Hi Corbett Field. Houston currently leads the all-time series between the two programs, 4-3. In their last meeting, the Cougars won a three-game series in Houston, 2-1, in 2019. This weekend marks Houston's first trip to Tucson since 2001.
• Arizona has scored at least one run in 106 straight games — it has not suffered a shutout loss since falling 1-0 at Washington on March 17, 2018. The Wildcats 106-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Pac-12.
• Through 11 games, the Wildcats pitching staff has posted a 11.58 K/9 rate, the 20th-best mark in the nation, the second-best mark in the Pac-12, and a significant increase from their 2019 mark of 7.52. They have struck out 10+ batters in 11 games this season, a feat they accomplished just 14 times in 2019.
• Junior outfielder Donta Williams currently ranks fourth in the nation and second in the Pac-12 with 19 runs scored this year.
• Sophomore outfielder Ryan Holgate and junior outfielder Donta Williams both sport lengthy on-base streaks dating back to last season. Williams has reached base safely in 21 straight games, while Holgate's streak currently sits at 18 games.
• Under head coach Jay Johnson (2016-current), the Wildcats have posted a record of 100-38 (.725) against non-conference opponents. The program's home non-conference record over that stretch is 58-12 (.829).

SOME SERIES THEMES: Arizona enters the weekend fresh off a crucial road victory over the Texas Longhorns on Tuesday...In their first true road game of the season, the Wildcats went into Austin and came away with an 8-6 victory to improve to 8-4 on the season...This will be the second of three consecutive home weekends for the Wildcats, who went 2-1 at the Arizona Tournament last weekend and will host the Oregon State Beavers to kick off Pac-12 Conference play next weekend...The Cats are 3-1 over their last four games with wins over Central Michigan, Rhode Island, and Texas...Arizona and Houston have played seven times in program history, with the Cougars holding a slight 4-3 advantage in the all-time series...They last met in late February 2019, with Houston winning two games of a three-game series in Houston...This will be the Cougars first trip to Tucson since 2001, when they came away with a 9-3 victory on March 14...The Wildcats offense — which finished 2019 second in the nation scoring an average of 9.8 runs per game — currently ranks first in the conference and 30th nationally with an average of 7.9 runs per game...Houston collected a midweek victory over Rice on Wednesday afternoon, but are just 2-5 over their last seven games and currently sit at 4-7 on the year...The Cougars biggest win of the season came against then-No. 25 ranked Stanford (11-4) in the opening game of the Round Rock Classic...Houston also narrowly lost, 2-3, in extra-innings to No. 1 ranked Texas Tech to close out that tournament...Houston is led by 10th-year head coach Todd Whitting, who has steered the Cougars to a record of 324-227 and five NCAA Tournament appearances.

STREAKONOMICS: Sophomore Branden Boissiere currently sports the longest hitting streak on the team at five games. Over that five-game stretch, Boissiere has hit .391 (9-for-23) with six runs scored, one double, one home run, eight RBI, a .565 slugging percentage, and a .375 on-base percentage. After a slow start to the year, junior catcher Matthew Dyer has put together a three-game hit streak, during which he has hit .400 (4-for-10) with four runs scored, two home runs, and 10 RBI. Junior outfielder Donta Williams and fellow outfielder Ryan Holgate both sport extended on-base streaks dating back to the 2019 season. Williams has safely reached base in all 12 games this year, and in 21 consecutive games. Holgate, who has also reached in all 12 of Arizona's games this season, has gotten on base in 18 straight games.

PITCH PERFECT: The early returns through 12 games on Arizona's 2020 pitching staff have been encouraging. Wildcat pitchers have combined to post a 11.58 K/9 rate, the second-best mark in the conference and 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 four times, tied once, and fallen one shy of six times. The 2020 Wildcats have struck out 10+ opposing batters 11 times this year, a feat the 2019 squad accomplished just 14 times. At the same time, the staff has dropped their BB/9 rate from 5.33 in 2019 down to 5.00 this season. The 13 pitchers used by the Wildcats so far this year have combined to limit opposing batters to a paltry .215 batting average and just 20 extra-base hits.
 

Stat	2019	2020
ERA	6.21	4.25
K/9	7.52	11.58
BB/9	5.33	5.00
Opp. AVG	.287	.215
WHIP	1.75	1.36

HOLGY'S HEROES: Sophomore outfielder Ryan Holgate has been one of the Wildcats most productive hitters during the early stretch of the season. Through 12 games, he ranks second on the team and ninth in the Pac-12 with a .395 (17-for-43) batting average. Holgate also ranks among the top 10 players in the conference in doubles (T-4th, 5), hits (T-7th, 17), total bases (9th, 25), and slugging percentage (10th, .581). He currently leads the team with six multi-hit games after posting just nine such performances during his freshman campaign in 2019. Perhaps most significantly, Holgate has worked to lower his strikeout rate from 26.3% in 2019 down to 20.4% this season.

RUNNING WILD: Arizona has scored at least one run in 106 straight games — it has not suffered a shutout loss since falling 1-0 at Washington on March 17, 2018. The Wildcats 106-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Pac-12, 25 more games than the next closest team, UCLA (81 games). Over the course of its 106-game scoring stretch, Arizona has been held to three runs or fewer just 15 times. On the flip side, during the streak they have scored five or more runs 48 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.
 

School	Scoring Streak	Last Shutout Loss (Score)
Arizona	106 games	March 17, 2018 at Washington (0-1)
UCLA	81 games	May 24, 2018 at Oregon State (0-2)
USC	72 games	May 18, 2018 vs. Oregon State (0-4)
Stanford	59 games	March 7, 2019 vs. Texas (0-4)
Oregon	28 games	April 20, 2019 vs. Stanford (0-10)
Washington St.	19 games	May 11, 2019 vs. UCLA (0-10)
Arizona St.	12 games	Feb. 15, 2020 vs. Michigan (0-5)
Utah	2 games	Feb. 28 2020 at UT Arlington (0-6)
Washington	2 games	Feb. 29, 2020 vs. UC Irvine (0-9)
Oregon St.	1 game	Feb. 29, 2020 at San Diego State (0-6)
California	0 games	March 4, 2020 vs. Michigan (0-5)

BULLPEN BULLIES: Right-handers Vince Vannelle and Preston Price have been spectacular out of the Arizona bullpen this season. The dynamic duo have combined allow just five earned runs across 11 appearances and 22.1 innings of work. Vannelle has struck out 20 batters in 13.1 innings, while Price has fanned nine in 9.0 frames. On Tuesday at Texas, Vannelle was called upon when starting pitcher Dawson Netz exited the game early due to injury and proceed to throw a career-high 85 pitches (previous high: 52, twice). Price also pitched against Texas, working 2.2 innings and sealing the road victory for Arizona.

Player	ERA	IP	K/BB	Opp. AVG
V. Vannelle	1.35	13.1	20/3	.152
P. Price	3.00	9.0	9/2	.289