EUGENE, Ore. — The No. 21 Arizona Wildcats (39-18), with a Big 12 Championship title in tow, head north to Oregon to begin the NCAA Tournament journey at the Eugene NCAA Regional alongside the No. 5 Oregon Ducks, the Cal Poly Mustangs, and the Utah Valley Wolverines.

The 2-seed Wildcats open play at the Eugene NCAA Regional on Friday, May 30 against Cal Poly with a first pitch on ESPN+ set for 1:00 p.m. MST. The game will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries.

Arizona is playing in their 44th NCAA Tournament, a mark that ranks sixth all-time among Division I programs. The Wildcats have now made five consecutive Regionals, including in all four years under head coach Chip Hale.

The complete bracket for the Eugene NCAA Regional can be found HERE.

For more, a complete regional preview is below.
 

Date	Opponent	Time (MST)	Arizona Pitcher	Opponent Pitcher
Friday, May 30	[3] Cal Poly	1:00 PM	RHP Owen Kramkowski (8-5, 5.03)	RHP Griffin Naess (7-2, 3.38)
Saturday, May 31	[1] Oregon or [4] Utah Valley	TBA	TBA	TBA
Sunday, June 1	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Leading Off...

• The Arizona Wildcats are locked in for their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, beginning with this weekend's regional in Eugene hosted by the Oregon Ducks. Joining the 1-seed Ducks and 2-seed Wildcats are the 3-seed Sal Poly Mustangs and the 4-seed Utah Valley Wolverines.
• Every game at the Eugene NCAA Regional will be televised on the ESPN family of networks with Roxy Bernstein (PxP) and Wes Clements (Analyst) on the call. All games involving Arizona will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffries.
• Arizona's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, by way of winning the Big 12 Championship, marks the program's 44th NCAA Tournament appearance, the sixth most among all Division I programs.
• The Wildcats have played 57 games against Oregon and hold a 29-27-1 edge in the all-time series. Arizona also holds an advantage in their all-time series against Cal Poly (2-0) and Utah Valley (19-3).
• 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, the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, currently leads the conference and ranks tied for eighth nationally with 12 saves. His 12 saves are the second most in a single season in program history, one shy of Jason Stoffel's record 13 saves in 2008.

SOME REGIONAL THEMES: The No. 21 Arizona Wildcats begin their NCAA postseason journey with a trip to the Eugene NCAA Regional this weekend at PK Park...The No. 5 Oregon Ducks will play host to the Wildcats, the Cal Poly Mustangs, and the Utah Valley Wolverines...The four teams in the Eugene Regional, three of which are automatic qualifiers by way of their respective conference tournaments, have a combined winning percentage of .670 (154-76) this season...All games at the Eugene NCAA Regional will be televised on the ESPN family of networks with Roxy Bernstein (PxP) and Wes Clements (Analyst) on the call...All games involving Arizona will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM featuring play-by-play from Brian Jeffries...Arizona's 44 NCAA Tournament appearances are the sixth most among all Division I baseball programs...Since the NCAA Tournament adopted the Super Regional format in 1999, the Wildcats have made 14 Regional appearances and advanced to the Super Regional round five times, most recently in 2021.

POSTSEASON POINTS:

• Arizona is participating in their 44th NCAA Tournament, the sixth most in Division I history.
• The Wildcats are participating in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season, marking the second longest streak in program history. The program's longest streak was 14 consecutive tournament appearances from 1950-63.
• Head coach Chip Hale is only the second coach in program history to lead their team to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first four years, joining Frank Sancet, who made 14 stright tournament appearances from 1950-63.
• Arizona sports an all-time winning record of 75-52 (.591) in the Regional/District round of the NCAA Baseball Championship, with 20 Regional/District championships (last: 2021).
• Since the NCAA Baseball Championship format changed in 1999, Arizona has advanced to five Super Regional competitions.
• Arizona's current roster features a combined 102 at-bats and 11.1 innings of NCAA Tournament experience.

STREAKONOMICS: Two players, catcher Adonys Guzman (7 games) and shortstop Mason White (5 games), sport active and extended hit streaks entering this weekend's play at the Eugene NCAA Regional. Guzman is hitting .370 (10-for-27) with five runs and seven RBI during his streak, while White is hitting .450 (9-for-20) with nine runs and 10 RBI during his streak. The longest hit streak of the year belongs to Garen Caulfield, who put together a 15-game hit streak from March 1–29. Four Wildcats on the travel roster boast on-base streaks of five games or longer entering this weekend's action: Guzman (7 games), infielder Andrew Cain (7 games), White (5 games), and outfielder Brendan Summerhill (5 games). Summerhill and fellow outfielder Aaron Walton have both posted 25-game on-base streaks this year, tied for the longest on the team.

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.

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 eighth nationally with 12 saves this year.

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 54 games, Guzman has posted a .315 batting average (63-for-200) 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 48 games behind the plate and posted an impressive 4.62 catcher's ERA. The junior backstop has thrown out 16 would-be base stealers and registered a .986 fielding percentage on a team-high 487 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).

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 Illinois 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.

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

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 223 games (215 starts) and tallied 845 at-bats, marks that rank 5th and 4th in Arizona Baseball history, respectively. With a minimum of two games remaining in the Wildcats season, Caulfield could  challenge for third all-time in at-bats.

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 2,568 extra-base hits. Over that stretch, only one current members of the Big 12 Conference have tallied more extra-base hits: Texas Tech (2,736). 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; they currently lead the Big 12 and the nation with 35 triples.

DIRTY THIRTY: The Wildcats recorded their 30th win of the season on April 26 at Texas Tech, giving them 30+ wins in all four seasons under the leadership of head coach Chip Hale. Arizona has now posted 10 consecutive full seasons with at least 30 wins, dating back to 2015 and not counting the COVID-19 shortened season in 2020. Since joining power conference baseball (starting with the Pac-12 in 1979 and now in the Big 12), Arizona has played 46 seasons and won 30+ games in 36 of them.