ARLINGTON, Texas — The Arizona Wildcats (38-18) and TCU Horned Frogs (39-17) will decide the Big 12 Championship crown tonight at 4:00 p.m. MST at Globe Life Field.

Tonight's championship game will be televised on ESPNU and available ESPN+ with Clay Matvick (PxP) and Mike Rooney (Analyst) on the call. It will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries.

Wildcat fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area can purchase tickets to come support Arizona Baseball HERE.

Arizona boasts victories over 12-seed BYU (4-1) and 1-seed West Virginia (12-1) on their path to tonight's championship tilt. TCU earned wins over 11-seed Houston (7-1) and 2-seed Kansas (11-1) en route to the title matchup.

This marks the third consecutive conference tournament championship game appearance for Arizona, who fell to Oregon, 4-5, in 2023 and bounced back for a 4-3 win over USC in 2024.

For more, a complete game preview is below.
 

Date	Opponent	Time (MST)	Arizona Pitcher	Opponent Pitcher
Saturday, May 24	[3] TCU	4:00 PM	RHP Smith Bailey (2-3, 4.52)	RHP Nate Stern (3-1, 1.53)

Leading Off...

• The 4-seed Arizona Wildcats have advanced to the title game of the Big 12 Baseball Championship, where they will face the 3-seed TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday night.
• The game will be televised on ESPNU and also available on ESPN+ with Clay Matvick (PxP) and Mike Rooney (Analyst) on the call. It will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries.
• Shortstop Mason White is hitting .857 (6-for-7) with six runs, one double, one triple, three home runs, and seven RBI at the Big 12 Baseball Championship. He has also drawn three walks and boasts a 3.471 OPS.
• Arizona and TCU have faced off 14 times previously, with games dating back to 1956 and the Wildcats holding a 9-5 edge in the all-time series. Saturday will be the fifth postseason matchup of the series.
• The most recent matchup was a three-game series in Tucson earlier this month. The Wildcats won 2-of-3 games, taking the first two before dropping the Sunday finale.
• Shortstop Mason White currently ranks second in program history with 45 career home runs. He now sits 10 home runs shy of a tie for the Arizona record. Of his 45 career home runs, 32 have been hit away from Hi Corbett Field at road/neutral venues.
• Reliever Tony Pluta currently leads the Big 12 and ranked tied for seventh nationally with 12 saves. His 12 saves are the second most in a single season in program history and are one shy of Jason Stoffel's record 13 saves in 2008.

BIG 12 AWARDS: Seven Wildcats picked up recognition on Tuesday with the announcement of the Big 12 Conference's end of year baseball awards, highlighted by right-handed pitcher Tony Pluta who was selected as the league's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Pluta, the first conference Scholar-Athlete of the year in program history, was also named to the All-Big 12 Second Team along with infielder Mason White. Additionally, first year right-handed pitcher Smith Bailey was voted onto the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Arizona's recognitions were rounded out by catcher Adonys Guzman, right-handed pitcher Owen Kramkowski, and outfielders Brendan Summerhill and Aaron Walton all earning All-Big 12 Honorable Mention nods. Across 23 regular season appearances Pluta tallied 11 saves, the most in the Big 12 and tied for ninth among all Division I players. The Iliinois native owns an impressive 1.65 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a minuscule .187 batting average while striking out 26. Pluta's numbers are even more impressive in Big 12 Conference play, where he made 10 appearances and allowed just one earned run for a 0.61 ERA while registering five of his 11 saves. The right-hander is currently tied for the second most saves in a single season in program history, while his 13 career saves are tied for the seventh most all-time. Pluta's dominance was not limited to the baseball diamond, the Aerospace Engineering major boasts a 3.919 GPA and was selected to represent Arizona on the CSC Academic All-District team and the Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll last season.

POSTSEASON POINTS:

• The Wildcats are participating in their fourth straight conference tournament this week. Arizona also qualified for each of the three Pac-12 Tournaments that were played from 2022-24.
• Arizona has advanced to the championship game in three consecutive conference tournaments (2023, 2024, 2025).
• Arizona holds an 10-4 record in conference tournaments under head coach Chip Hale.
• The Wildcats opened their season at Globe Life Field in Arlington, going 0-3 against Ole Miss (1-2), No. 15 Clemson (5-16), and Louisville (1-13).

TUCSON'S OWN: Infielder and Tucson native Mason White has slugged his way into the Arizona Baseball record books. With 10 home runs as a true freshman, a team-leading 19 last year as a sophomore, and 16 more so far this year, White is now second in program history with 45 dingers. He has also piled up 106 career extra-base hits, the second most in program history. He passed his current head coach, Chip Hale, with two XBH on May 22 against BYU.

ALWAYS BE CATCHING: Arizona catcher Adonys Guzman was selected as one of 13 semifinalists for the Buster Posey Award, the Wichita Sports Commission announced this week. The award has been presented annually since 2000 to the nation's most outstanding catcher; it was previously known as the Johnny Bench Award until renaming it after the famous Florida State and San Francisco Giants catcher, Buster Posey, in 2019. Through 53 games, Guzman has posted a .315 batting average (62-for-197) with 38 runs scored, 10 doubles, seven home runs, and 38 RBI, all of which are career-high marks. In addition to his contributions at the plate, Guzman has started 47 games behind the plate and posted an impressive 4.71 catcher's ERA. The junior backstop has thrown out 16 would-be base stealers and registered a .985 fielding percentage on a team-high 478 total chances. Guzman's 16 baserunners caught stealing are tied for the eighth most in a single season by a Wildcat during the StatCrew era (1998-current).

VITAMIN K: During a 16-inning marathon win against West Virginia on Friday, March 21 the Wildcats pitching staff tallied a program-record 29 strikeouts. The impressive mark shattered the previous program high of 21, set on April 26, 1940. The previous high-water mark of 21, accomplished 85 years ago, was solely the work of one man: Ken Heist. He struck out 21 New Mexico Lobos in a game played at Hi Corbett Field, then named Randolph Park, decades before it became the permanent home of the Wildcats. Arizona's program record 29 strikeout performance fell just two strikeouts shy of tying the NCAA record of 31.

SAVING PRIVATE PLUTA: Reliever Tony Pluta has been a rock-solid force out of the Arizona bullpen this season and has quickly risen up the program's single-season and career saves leaderboards. With 12 saves this year and 14 for his career, Pluta finds himself ranked second on the Wildcats single-season charts and tied for fifth on the Arizona career leaderboard. Pluta leads the Big 12 and ranks tied for seventh nationally with 12 saves this year.

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 9% (295) of the program's all-time wins.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION: Arizona infielder Mathis Meurant, who was born and raised in France, is the lone player on the Wildcats roster from outside the United States. With assistance from Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24 on Twitter) and the French Baseball and Softball Federation it has been confirmed that, upon his Wildcat debut on opening weekend in Arlington, Meurant became the first French player at the Power Conference level in NCAA history. Meurant originally hails from Vaires-sur-Marne, a small town just east of Paris. Following a breakout performance in week two against San Diego in which he posted a 2.200 OPS, Meurant was selected as the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week, making him the first Arizona Baseball player to receive a Big 12 weekly award.

IRON MAN: Wildcat infielder Garen Caulfield has logged nearly four full seasons in an Arizona uniform and has cemented himself among some of the most prolific players in program history. Since 2022, Caulfield has seen time in 222 games (214 starts) and tallied 840 at-bats, marks that rank t-5th and 6th in Arizona Baseball history, respectively. With a minimum of three games likely remaining in the Wildcats season, Caulfield could reach as high as fifth in games played. He could also challenge for fourth all-time in at-bats.