Baseball Opens 2025 Season at Globe Life Field in Arlington

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats kick off their 2025 season with a three-game test at the Shriners Children's College Showdown, hosted at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

While in Arlington, the Wildcats will face off against Ole Miss, No. 15 Clemson, and Louisville. All games at the College Showdown will be televised on FloCollege, a subscription based streaming service.

Arizona enters their fourth year under the guidance of head coach Chip Hale, who has steered the Wildcats to 30+ wins and NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his first three seasons.

The Wildcats return the bast majority of their lineup from last year's conference championship squad, but look to rebuild their starting rotation and bullpen.

Continue reading below for more news, notes, and information about the Wildcats opening weekend.

Leading Off…

• The #21 Arizona Wildcats open the 2025 season, their fourth under the direction of head coach Chip Hale, at the Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.
• Arizona will face Ole Miss, #15 Clemson, and Louisville at Globe Life Field, with all three games airing live on FloCollege. Play-by-play duties for the three games will be split between Brant Freeman and Ben Wilson, with Ty Harrington and Pat Combs joining them in the booth as analysts.
• The Wildcats hold advantages in their all-time series against Clemson (3-2) and Louisville (2-0), while narrowly trailing Ole Miss (3-4).
• Head coach Chip Hale — a standout alumni and Arizona's all-time leader in games played, hits, and total bases — enters his fourth year leading his alma mater. Hale has led the Wildcats to NCAA Tournament berths and 30+ wins in each of his first three seasons in charge in Tucson.
• Hale's first victory as the head coach at Arizona came against Kansas State (W, 8-6) at Globe Life Field in 2022. The Wildcats went 3-0 in that season-opening tournament in Arlington.
• Arizona has won 16 consecutive season-opening games. Their last opening day loss came against Georgia in 2008 (L, 7-9).
• Since 2010, Arizona starting pitchers on opening night have combined to post 10 quality starts. No starter in that stretch has allowed more than three runs.
• INF Garen Caulfield, INF Tommy Splaine, RHP Casey Hintz, and RHP Matthew Martinez were selected by their teammates as captains for the 2025 Wildcats.

SOME WEEKEND THEMES: The No. 21 Arizona Wildcats begin their fourth season under the direction of head coach Chip Hale this weekend at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas where they will face off against Ole Miss, No. 15 Clemson, and Louisville in the 2025 Shriners Children's College Showdown...Hale has guided the Wildcats to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, 30+ wins in all three seasons at the helm, and a conference championship during his time in Tucson...Hale's coaching staff includes fourth-year assistant coaches Trip Couch (recruiting coordinator, outfielders) and Toby DeMello (hitters, catchers), along with second year assistant coach Kevin Vance (pitchers)...The Wildcats enter the 2025 season with sizable expectations, having been picked by the Big 12 coaches to finish second in the conference and landing on the Preseason Top 25 from all five major polls...Two standout juniors, outfielder Brendan Summerhill and infielder Mason White, were both selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team by the league's coaches...Both players have also earned Preseason All-America nods, with White pulling in a Second Team spot from the NCBWA and a Third Team spot from Perfect Game and Summerhill garnering a First Team pick from Baseball America, a second team pick from the NCBWA, and a Third Team pick from Perfect Game...Ole Miss is led by 24th-year head coach Mike Bianco, who has steered the Rebels to a 906-543 record, 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, and one NCAA National Championship during his time in Oxford...Clemson is led by third-year head coach Erik Bakich, who has compiled an 88-35 record and one NCAA Tournament appearance with the Tigers...Louisville is led by 18th-year head coach Dan McDonnell who has led the Cardinals to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and five Men's College World Series appearances while with the program.

LID LIFTER: Arizona boasts a long run of success in season openers, having won 16 consecutive lid lifters dating back to the 2009 season. Arizona's last opening day loss was a 9-7 decision at Georgia in 2008. This weekend marks the third time in four years that the Wildcats will open the season under head coach Chip Hale at a neutral site tournament. Finally, the Wildcats have won or tied 27 consecutive season-opening series/weekends — the last time Arizona had a losing record after their first weekend of the season came all the way back in 1994, when they went 1-2 at home against New Mexico. During that two and a half decade stretch, the Cats have collected 14 series/weekend sweeps.

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!: Senior infielder Garen Caulfield, senior infielder Tommy Splaine, junior right-handed pitcher Casey Hintz, and senior right-handed pitcher Matthew Martinez have been named Arizona Baseball's 2025 Team Captains. They were all voted on by their teammates to lead the clubhouse this season. The quartet of upperclassmen have all been major contributors on the field, leaders in the clubhouse, and exemplary men off the field during their time in Tucson.

CATS COACHES: The Wildcats are led this season by fourth-year head coach Chip Hale — he was hired on July 5, 2021. Hale, the Wildcats all-time leader in games played, hits, and total bases during his time in Tucson from 1984-87, brought nearly two decades of professional coaching experience to Arizona. During his collegiate career, Hale helped steer the 1986 Arizona Wildcats to their third NCAA National Championship. His professional coaching career was highlighted by a stint as the manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2015-16) and a World Series championship with the Washington Nationals in 2019. Hale is once again joined by assistant coaches Toby DeMello, Trip Couch, and Kevin Vance. DeMello, who joined the Wildcats from Sacramento State in 2022, was promoted from volunteer assistant into a full-time coaching role after his second season in Tucson. Since arriving, he has helped craft one of the most dangerous offenses in America, one that has averaged 7.15 runs per game and batted .289 under his guidance. Couch, one of the nation's top recruiting coordinators, joined the Wildcats in the same role in 2022 after splitting the previous 11 years between Houston and South Carolina. Across his decades of collegiate coaching experience, Couch has made 14 NCAA postseason appearances, developed 15 All-Americans, and directly coached 42 MLB Draft selections. The Wildcats newest full-time staff addition was assistant coach Kevin Vance, who arrived in Tucson prior to the 2024 season to develop the Arizona pitching staff. Vance's staff led the entire nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio and BB/9 rate last year while dropping their ERA over a run and a half, the 20th best improvement in the country.

AMONG THE BEST: Five standout Wildcats were recorgnized in recent weeks by D1Baseball as they organized their preseason position rankings. The group is led by Preseason All-Americans Mason White, who was tabbed as the seventh-best shortop in the country, and Brendan Summerhill, who was selected as the twelfth-best outfielder in the nation. Second baseman Garen Caulfield (second base), Casey Hintz (relief pitcher), and Tony Pluta (relief pitcher) were all also honored with spots on their lists.

BIG CONFERENCE, BIG HONORS: Arizona infielder Mason White and outfielder Brendan Summerhill both earned spots on the Preseason All-Big 12 team. Players are nominated for, and voted onto, the Preseason All-Big 12 team by the league's 14 head coaches. At the same time, the Wildcats were selected to finish second in the 2025 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll with four first place votes, marking their highest selection since the 2021 team was picked to finish second in the 2021 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll. Arizona will face the teams that finished ranked directly ahead of (Oklahoma State) and behind (TCU) them in the poll at home this season. The complete 2025 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll can be found on the right side of page three of these notes.

STREAKONOMICS: Infielder Mason White carries a six-game hit streak into the beginning of the 2025 season, while fellow infielder Richie Morales carries a seven-game on-base streak into this weekend in Arlington. The Wildcats longest hit streak and on-base streak last season both belong to outfielder Brendan Summerhill, who posted a 12-game hit streak and a 33-game on-base streak during the 2024 campaign.

EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: Arizona has consistently 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 have swatted 2,352 extra-base hits. Over that stretch, only two current members of the Big 12 Conference have tallied more extra-base hits: Texas Tech (2,551) and Oklahoma State (2,357). Across 13 seasons at Hi Corbett Field as members of the Pac-12 Conference, Arizona paced the league in doubles seven times and triples eight times.

TUCSON'S OWN: Infielder and Tucson native Mason White has put together back-to-back successful seasons for his hometown Wildcats, and has nearly slugged his way into the Arizona Baseball record books. With 10 home runs as a true freshman and a team-leading 19 last year as a sophomore, White stands just two home runs shy of breaking into the Wildcats career top 10. At an average of 14.5 home runs per season during his collegiate career, another average performance would rank him tied for second all-time at Arizona.

MIDAS TOUCH: Arizona Baseball outfielder Brendan Summerhill was honored with one of 55 spots on the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List, USA Baseball announced last week. Summerhill is the first Wildcat to earn a spot on the preseason watch list since outfielder Chase Davis landed on the 2023 edition. He is the 12th Arizona player to be named to the preseason watch list since its inclusion in the awards process in 2008, and the third developed by head coach Chip Hale (Davis 2023, Daniel Susac 2022). Summerhill, a junior, has logged two seasons and 80 games in an Arizona uniform and posted a .311 career batting average. The Chicago native enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign last year, leading the team in both batting average (.324) and on-base percentage (.399) en route to earning Pac-12 All-Conference honors. Summerhill contributed to the Wildcats 2024 Pac-12 Championship season in all facets of the game, scoring 50 runs, slugging 32 extra-base hits, driving in 59 RBI, stealing seven bases, and playing strong defense. The Golden Spikes Award will announce a midseason watch list on April 3, followed by a selection of semifinalists and finalists. The 2025 Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced in June.

3,000 CLUB: Arizona Baseball is one of just 10 programs in the history of college baseball to win 3,000 games. As it currently stands, Arizona is the 10th all-time winningest program in the history of the sport. The Wildcats logged their 3,000th victory with a 3-2 win over UCLA on March 29, 2024. Across time as a player (1984-87) and as a coach (2022-present), Arizona head coach Chip Hale has contributed to over 8% of the program's all-time wins.

THE AMERICANS: Two Wildcat juniors, outfielder Brendan Summerhill and infielder Mason White, have both earned Preseason All-America nods from multiple outlets. The two combined to produce an outsized majority of the Arizona offense last season, and both are primed to feature heavily in what looks to be a veteran lineup in 2025. Summerhill and White combined for 105 runs scored, 110 hits, 63 extra-base hits, and 124 RBI. White also earned Freshman All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball following his debut campaign in 2023.