PULLMAN, Wash. — The Arizona Wildcats (17-13, 5-10) make a trip to the Palouse for a three-game series against the Washington State Cougars (19-12, 5-9) this weekend at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Arizona enters the weekend on a three-game win streak after taking the final two games from Washington last weekend and routing New Mexico State on Tuesday night at Hi Corbett Field. The Wildcats are still seeking their first Pac-12 road series win of the year and visiting a ballpark they have not lost a series at since 2009.

The Cats offense has been red hot recently, scoring 10+ runs in each of their last three games, all victories. Chase Davis and Kiko Romero both have swatted double digit home runs this season, the only pair of teammates in the conference this year to have accomplished the feat.

For more, a complete weekend preview is below.
 

Date	Opponent	Time (MST)	Arizona Pitcher	Opponent Pitcher
Friday, April 14	Washington State	7:00 PM	LHP Jackson Kent (0-0, 4.74)	RHP Dakota Hawkins (3-3, 5.08)
Saturday, April 15	Washington State	3:00 PM	LHP Bradon Zastrow (3-1, 4.42)	RHP Caden Kaelber (3-2, 4.17)
Sunday, April 16	Washington State	12:00 PM	RHP Aiden May (3-2, 6.39)	RHP Grant Taylor (2-2, 4.38)

Leading Off...

• The Arizona Wildcats hit the road for a three-game series against the Washington State Cougars at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman. 
• All three games this weekend will be televised on Pac-12 Network with play-by-play from Greg Heister and broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with Brian Jeffries on play-by-play.
• Arizona leads the all-time series against Washington State, 49-28, with games dating back to 1975. In their most recent meeting the Cougars took 2-of-3 games from the Wilcats in Tucson during the 2022 season.
• The Wildcats have won six straight road series over the Cougars, with their last series loss in Pullman coming in 2009, a 3-0 sweep by WSU.
• Arizona's .977 fielding percentage currently ranks third in the Pac-12 behind only Oregon State (.979) and Washington (.978). Their 25 errors are second-fewest in the conference. The Wildcats finished 2022 ninth in the Pac-12 in fielding percentage.
• Outfielder Chase Davis hit his 12th home run of the season on Tuesday against New Mexico State, giving him 30 career home runs. He currently sits just one home run shy of breaking into the Wildcats career Top 10.
• The 96 walks issued by Arizona pitchers this year are the second-fewest in the Pac-12. They are walking batters at a BB/9 rate of 3.21.
• Kiko Romero (24) and Chase Davis (19) rank first and tied for third in the Pac-12 in extra-base hits, respectively. They are the only teammates in the conference both with double digit home runs.

SOME SERIES THEMES: The Arizona Wildcats and Washington State Cougars match up for a three-game Pac-12 Conference series in Pullman this weekend...All three games will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks with Greg Heister on the call...The series will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries...Arizona leads the all-time series against Washington State, 49-28, with games dating back to 1975...In their most recent meeting the Cougars took 2-of-3 games from the Wilcats in Tucson during the 2022 season...WSU won game one 11-5 and took the series with a 6-5 game two victory before Arizona won the series finale 5-2 to avoid being swept...The Wildcats have won six straight road series over the Cougars, with their last series loss in Pullman coming in 2009, a 3-0 sweep by WSU...Arizona has played to a record of 13-6 at home but gone just 1-6 on the road...After being swept in three straight Pac-12 series the Wildcats returned to the win column with a series victory over Washington last weekend...The Cougars have exchanged sweeps in each of their last three Pac-12 series, dropping all three in a road series at USC, taking both games of a weather-shortened series against UCLA at home, then falling in all three at Arizona State last weekend...Washington State is led by fourth-year head coach Brian Green who has led the Cougs to three straight winning seasons since moving to the Palouse after five seasons leading the program at New Mexico State.

STREAKONOMICS: Five Wildcats are all curently riding six-game hit streaks, the longest active streaks on the team: Chase Davis, Kiko Romero, Mac Bingham, Mason White, and Emilio Corona. The longest hit streak on the team this year belongs to outfielder Chase Davis, who strung together an 11-game streak from Feb. 28 – March 21. Davis (29 games) currently sports the longest on-base streak on the team. Dating back to the end of the 2022 campaign, Davis has reached base safely in 43 consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. Kiko Romero (14 games) and Brendan Summerhill (10 games) also sport active, extended on-base streaks.

MLB WILDCATS: Eight former Wildcats currently find themselves on MLB rosters rosters: Cesar Salazar (Houston Astros), Kevin Newman (Cincinnati Reds), Andrew Nardi (Miami Marlins), Rob Refsnyder (Boston Red Sox), Kevin Ginkel (Arizona Diamondbacks), Tylor Megill (New York Mets), Bobby Dalbec (Boston Red Sox), and Mark Melancon (Arizona Diamondbacks). Salazar made the Astros Opening Day roster and made his Major League debut on Sunday, April 12 against the White Sox, becoming the 93rd Wildcat in MLB history. In addition to the eight Wildcats currently in MLB there are seven other former Wildcats currently playing organized baseball who have already made their Major League debuts, along with 17 more who are working hard to earn their first shot.

WHAT A RELIEF: Wildcats reliever Trevor Long, a multi-year member of the NCBWA's Stopper of the Year Watch List, has logged 11 career saves. He currently ranks 10th on the Wildcats all-time saves leaderboard. Should he match last year's save total of seven and tally 14 career saves, he would move into a tie for fifth all time along with Bobby Dalbec (2014-16) and Ryan Moskau (1997-98). His seven saves last season were tied for 11th most in a single season in program history and ranked tied for fifth in the Pac-12. Dating back to last season, Long has held opponents without an earned run in 37-of-48 appearances.

NO FREE RIDES: The Arizona pitching staff has excelled at limiting walks this season, allowing an average of just 3.21 BB/9. Eleven times this season the Wildcats pitching staff has issued two or fewer walks in a game, highlighted by a zero-walk performance against Arizona State on March 24. Arizona's mark of 3.21 is the second-best mark in the Pac-12 — behind only UCLA (2.65) — and the 13th best mark among all NCAA Division I programs. It also marks a significant improvement from their 2019 mark of 5.33 BB/9.

STARTING STRONG: The Wildcats have more than doubled up opponents through the first two innings of games this year, currently hold a 73-34 scoring advantage across the first and second innings. In the first two innings this year the Wildcats offense has combined to post a .361 batting average with 38 extra-base hits, while the pitching staff has limited opposing offenses to a .270 batting average with just 15 extra-base hits. Overall, Arizona has out-scored their opponents by a margin of 236-181 this year.

EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: Through 30 games, the Arizona offense has combined to swat 144 extra-base hits, the best mark in the Pac-12. The Wildcats are currently averaging 4.8 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 2,000 extra-base hits (second: Stanford, 1,892). During that stretch Arizona has paced the conference in doubles six times and triples six times.

CRUSH DAVIS: Outfielder Chase Davis has proven himself to be a prolific power hitter during his collegiate career. After swatting 18 during his sophomore campaign, he has followed up with 12 so far this year to give him 30 career long balls. Davis enters the weekend just one home run shy of breaking into the Wildcats career leaderboard. His 18 home runs last year led the team, ranked third in the Pac-12, and were tied for the sixth most in a single season in program history.