TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats (3-1) are set to host the West Virginia Mountaineers (2-2) for their home opening series this weekend at Hi Corbett Field. Game one is set for this Friday, Feb. 24 with a first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MST.

Tickets for all three games are available for purchase HERE. 

Arizona is fresh off a 3-1 opening weekend performance at the MLB Desert Invitational, an impressive showing that was highlighted by a 3-1 opening night victory over No. 2 Tennessee on MLB Network. The Wildcats pitching carried the weekend, posting a 3.50 ERA and limiting opposing hitters to a .261 batting average.

The entire opening weekend series will be live streamed for free on Pac-12 Insider.

For more, a complete weekend preview is below.
 

Date	Opponent	Time (MST)	Arizona Pitcher	Opponent Pitcher
Friday, Feb. 24	West Virginia	6:00 PM	RHP TJ Nichols (1-0, 1.50)	LHP Ben Hampton (0-0, 1.50)
Saturday, Feb. 25	West Virginia	3:00 PM	RHP Anthony Susac (0-1, 4.50)	RHP Blaine Traxel (0-1, 1.80)
Sunday, Feb. 26	West Virginia	1:00 PM	LHP Bradon Zastrow (1-0, 1.69)	RHP Grant Siegel (1-0, 5.40)

Leading Off...

• The Arizona Wildcats return to Hi Corbett Field for their home opener this weekend, a three-game series against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The full series will be live streamed on Pac-12 Insider.
• The Wildcats have gone 18-2 in their last 20 home openers, with their only two loses coming to Grand Canyon in 2022 (19-3) and BYU in 2003 (6-3). From 2004-21 they won 18 consecutive home openers.
• Arizona and West Virginia have never met before. The Mountaineers are one of four teams the Wildcats will play/have played this year for the first time, the others being Cal Baptist, UC San Diego (W, 9-8), and Tennessee (W, 3-1).
• Right-handed pitcher TJ Nichols earned his first career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honor after out-dueling Tennessee and top prospect Chase Dollander on Opening Night in Scottsdale.
• The Wildcats committed just two errors in their first four games of the year, leading to a .987 fielding percentage that ranks second in the Pac-12 behind only UCLA (.992).
• Junior outfielder Chase Davis was unanimously selected as a Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball (2nd Team), Perfect Game (2nd Team), Baseball America (3rd Team), D1Baseball (3rd Team), and the NCBWA (3rd Team). He was also named to the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference team and the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List.
• Through the first week of play, Arizona ranks second in the Pac-12 with 10 doubles. Since 2012, the Wildcats lead the conference with 1,898 XBH.

SOME SERIES THEMES: The Arizona Wildcats return home to Hi Corbett Field to host their home opener, a three-game series against the West Virginia Mountaineers that opens on Friday night...All three games this weekend will be live streamed on Pac-12 Insider...Danny Martinez (PxP) and Jeff Bowe (Analyst) will have the call on opening night, while Bowe will take over play-by-play duties for games two and three...The Wildcats opened the year going 3-1 at the MLB Desert Invitational in Scottsdale and Mesa, highlighted by a 3-1 opening night victory over then No. 2 ranked Tennessee on MLB Network...West Virginia dropped two-of-three at Georgia Southern to open the year before registering a midweek road win over No. 13 Maryland on Tuesday night...Arizona and West Virginia are facing off for the first time in program history...Arizona's opening night starting pitcher, junior right-hander TJ Nichols, was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after defeating Tennessee...Junior outfielder Chase Davis has picked up a multitude of honors and was unanimously tabbed as a Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball (Second Team), Perfect Game (Second Team), Baseball America (Third Team), D1Baseball (Third Team), and the NCBWA (Third Team)...Davis was also picked as one of 55 players on the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List...The Wildcats enter week two unranked according to D1Baseball, but earned No. 27 and No. 26 rankings from the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball, respectively.

STREAKONOMICS: Infielders Tony Bullard and Nik McClaughry, along with outfielder Tyler Casagrande, all sport team-best three-game hit streaks going into the weekend against West Virginia. McClaughry, Mason White, Chase Davis, Kiko Romero, and Garen Caulfield all reached base safely in all four games at the MLB Desert Invitational. Going back to last season, Davis has now reached base safely in 18 consecutive games, the longest streak of his career.

NICHOLS NAMED PAC-12 PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Arizona Baseball right-handed pitcher TJ Nichols has been selected as the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, the conference announced on Monday. This marks the first Pac-12 weekly honor for Nichols, and back-to-back seasons with a Wildcat earning the first Pitcher of the Week selection of the season after fellow right-hander Dawson Netz earned the recognition in week one of 2022. Nichols dominated the No. 2 ranked Tennessee Volunteers on opening night, helping power the Wildcats to a 3-1 upset victory. The hard-throwing righty limited the Vols to just one run on three hits while striking out six. He allowed his only run of the night in the first inning on a sacrifice fly before settling into a groove, at one point retiring nine consecutive Tennessee batters.

EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: Through four games, the Arizona offense has combined to swat 15 extra-base hits, the sixth-best mark in the Pac-12. The Wildcats are currently averaging 3.75 extra-base hits per game. Arizona has taken advantage of the large dimensions at Hi Corbett Field since moving there in 2012 — in the decade-plus since the move off campus the Wildcats hold the Pac-12 lead with 1,898 extra-base hits (second: Stanford, 1,806). During that stretch Arizona has paced the conference in doubles six times and triples six times.

FIRST ANNUAL PAC-12 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM: Arizona Baseball outfielder Chase Davis, infielder Nik McClaughry, and right-handed pitchers Trevor Long and TJ Nichols all earned spots on the first-ever Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference team as announced by the league in early February. The Preseason All-Conference team, in its first year in existence, is voted on by the conference's head coaches. The Wildcats four players honored is tied for the third most in the conference — Stanford leads the way with seven players on the team, followed by UCLA with six, while Arizona and Oregon are next with four each. The Pac-12 also released their annual Preseason Coaches Poll with the Wildcats selected to finish fourth in the conference standings. The top five ranked teams in the 2023 poll all competed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament — the complete 2023 Preseason Coaches Poll can be found on page three.

1986 CALLED, THEY WANT THEIR UNIFORMS BACK: Arizona Baseball has added a fifth option to their uniform set for the 2023 season, an all-white option modeled after the uniforms worn by the 1986 National Championship squad. The all-white uniforms feature a classic block letter Arizona script across the chest, eye-catching red numbers on the front, and — for the first time in program history — player names on the back. Arizona Baseball head coach Chip Hale donned nearly identical uniforms as a key member of the 1986 National Championship team and took a lead role in designing the new white uniforms for 2023. The Wildcats icy white look will be incorporated into their already-iconic uniform set that includes red, blue, pinstripe, and gray uniforms.

HOME SWEET HOME: Since Arizona Baseball moved to Hi Corbett Field for the 2012 season, the Wildcats have enjoyed a tremendous home field advantage. Over those 11+ seasons, Arizona has posted a record of 249-106, winning games at a .701 clip. Their home winning percentage over that stretch is the second best mark in the conference.

STATE 48: The Wildcats 2023 roster features 10 players hailing from the state of Arizona. Other states represented on Arizona's roster include California (15), Illinois (5), New Mexico (2), Minnesota (2), Texas (1), Virginia (1), and Colorado (1). The Wildcats 10 Arizonans represent over 27% of the roster. Among the 10 Arizona natives on the roster, four current Wildcats also played their high school baseball in Tucson: George Arias Jr. (Tucson HS), Chris Barraza (Sahuarita HS), Mason White (Salpointe Catholic HS), and Kiko Romero (Canyon Del Oro HS).

ALFA ROMERO: Junior outfielder Kiko Romero, a transfer from Central Arizona College, is expected to play a large role for the Wildcats in 2023 after three seasons with the Vaqueros. He returns to Tucson, where he played his high school ball, after leading Central Arizona to an NJCAA World Series Championship in 2022. As a sophomore last year he hit 366 with 95 runs scored, 22 doubles, five triples, 25 home runs, and 84 RBI. His six-home run performance, tied for a tournament record, at the NJCAA World Series earned him tournament MVP and Outstanding Hitter honors. Romero prepped at Canyon Del Oro HS in Tucson where he was a three-year letterwinner in baseball and a one-time letterwinner in golf.

EXTRA EDITION: The Wildcats finished the 2022 season with 222 extra-base hits, the third-best mark in the Pac-12 behind only Oregon State (223) and Stanford (273). Of those 222 extra-base knocks, 119 (53.6%) return to the roster in 2023. Junior outfielder Chase Davis, who led the team and tied for third in the conference with 18 home runs last year, paced Wildcat returners with 32 extra-base hits last year. Arizona's 53.6% return rate on extra-base hits from last season ranks fifth-best in the Pac-12, while their raw total of 119 returning XBH ranks second.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Arizona finished the 2022 season having turned an astounding 57 double plays, the best mark in the Pac-12 and the fourth best mark among all 293 Division I programs. The Wildcats return both of their middle infielders from last season: shortstop Nik McClaughry and Garen Caulfield. McClaughry led the Pac-12 last season with 189 defensive assists and played a role in 40 of Arizona's 57 double plays; Caulfield was close behind, having played a part in 39-of-57 twin killings.