TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats (6-10) are set to open Big 12 play this weekend at Utah (9-5). The Wildcats will play a three-game series against the Utes at America First Ballpark, with Friday's contest scheduled for 5 p.m. (MST), Saturday slated for a 1 p.m. start, and the series finale will begin at Noon.
Arizona enters the contest winning five of their past seven games, as they will aim to open Big 12 play in strong fashion against Utah this weekeend.
LEADING OFF
- The Arizona Wildcats travel to face the Utah Utes for a three-game series at America First Ballpark to open Big 12 play.
- All three games throughout the weekend will be broadcast on ESPN+ featuring play-by-play from Bill Riley.
- Former Pac-12 foes, Arizona and Utah have played 92 times previously throughout history, with Arizona holding a 69-23 advantage in the series.
- Arizona won the most recent matchup between the two programs, a 8-7 victory in the 2025 series finale after Utah won the first two contests of the weekend.
- Arizona has won five of their past seven games, including a sweep of Fresno State last weekend.
- Nate Novitske has had a multi-hit performance in six of Arizona's past eight games and is a combined 18-38 at the plate over the stretch.
- Last week, Tony Lira went 11-18 at the plate with two doubles and a home run, while reaching base 13 times across four games.
- After getting off to a slow start this season, Maddox Mihalakis is a combined 8-17 with a team-high eight RBI across Arizona's last four games.
- Owen Kramkowski was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday after throwing six scoreless innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts in a shutout win over Fresno State last Friday.
- Arizona's pitching staff leads the Big-12 in strikeouts this season with 173.
SOME WEEKEND THEMES: The Arizona Wildcats and Utah Utes meet for a three-game series this weekend at America First Ballpark to open Big 12 play...All three games this weekend will be available to subscribers on ESPN+ featuring play-by-play from Bill Riley...Arizona and Utah have faced off Tuesday 92 times previously, with the Wildcats holding a 69-23 advantage in the all-time series...Arizona and Utah played a three-game series in Tucson last year, and Utah won two of three games, but the Wildcats won the series finale...After a slow start to the season, Arizona has won five of their past seven games, claiming victories over UC Irvine and Vanderbilt, in addition to a three-game sweep of Fresno State last weekend...Arizona's pitching staff has been stellar this season, as they lead the Big 12 in strikeouts (173)...The Wildcats starting rotation of Owen Kramkowski, Smith Bailey, and Luc Fladda have been tremendous this season...Kramkowski was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday after tossing six scoreless innings and recording a career-high 12 strikeouts in a win over Fresno State last Friday...Bailey also had a highly impressive outing against Fresno State, as he pitched a career-high seven innings while striking out a career best nine batters last Saturday...Fladdahas been effective in each of his four outings and he is yet to issue a walk while recording 20 strikoeuts...After scoring 28 runs across their first eight games, Arizona has scored 52 runs over the past eight games...Nate Novitske leads the Wildcats and ranks eighth in the Big 12 in batting average this season (.400)...Arizona has played a multitude of freshmen this season, and they have had five freshmen start at least nine games apiece so far...Tony Lira leads the Wildcats in hits this season (25), and he is batting .373 with an on-base percentage of .440...Arizona relief pitcher Maclain Roberts is yet to allow a run this season in nine innings of work, and he has tallied 14 strikeouts while not issuing a walk...Utah is led by fifth-year head coach Gary Henderson who is 111-115 at the helm of the program and 430-372 throughout his entire career as a collegiate head coach (15 seasons)...Utah has gotten off to a strong start this season, as they are 9-5 and are coming off a four-game sweep of Grand Canyon...Utah's pitching staff has been impressive this season, as they rank third in the Big 12 in ERA (3.78).
NOVITSKE AND LIRA SPARKING THE OFFENSE: After struggling at the plate to start the season, Arizona has significantly elevated their offensive play and Redshirt Freshmen Nate Novitske and Tony Lira have led the way. Over the past eight games, Arizona is hitting .292 as a team, while averaging 9.9 hits per game. Novitske leads the team and ranks eighth in the Big 12 with a .4oo batting average and over Arizona's past eight games; Novitske is 18-38 at the plate with seven RBI and seven runs scored. Novitske has six multi-hit games over that same stretch, including five games with three hits. He hit the first home run of his career in the series finale against Fresno State last Sunday. Lira has also been outstanding for the Wildcats, as he ranks first on the team in hits (25) and extra-base hits (6), while ranking second in batting average (.381) and on-base percentage (.451). Lira had an exceptional week last week, as he went 11-18 at the plate, including going 4-4 with a walk in Arizona's 14-4 run-rule victory over Fresno State lastSunday. Lira has started all 16 games for the Wildcats this season and has recorded a hit in 11 of 16 contests, including posting two or more hits in 10 games.
MIHALAKIS GETS GOING: Senior Maddox Mihalakis entered the season with high expectations after starting 60 games for the Wildcats last season. Mihalakis got off to a slow start at the plate, but he hadsuperb weekend for Arizona against Fresno State last weekend. The senior went 7-13 with eight RBI and three runs scored in the series against Fresno State, recording at least two hits in all three contests. He went 1-4 with a run scored against Arizona State on Tuesday, as he has tallied at least one hit in each of the past four games.
BULLPEN HOLDING IT DOWN: Despite losing 2025 NCBWA Stopper of the Year, Tony Pluta, to injury before the start of the season, Arizona has had a multitude of pitchers step up and make a significant impact out of the bullpen. Senior Matthew Martinez has been outstanding for the Wildcats this season. Martinez has been dominant in nearly every outing, as he has appeared in five games, tossing 10.0 innings and posting an ERA of 3.60, while recording 16 strikeouts and limiting opposing hitters to a .176 average. Maclain Roberts, a transfer from Pima CC, has been exceptional this season. The junior from Auckland, New Zealand has made four appearances and is yet to give up a run in 9.0 innings. Roberts has allowed just four hits and has struck out 14 batters with zero walks. Patrick Morris, a senior who transferred from Western Kentucky, has also been impressive for the Wildcats. Morris has pitched 12.1 innings across eight outings and has allowed 11 hits and five runs and he has an ERA of 3.65. Senior closer Garrett Hicls has made five appearances and has a 3.38 ERA, as he has allowed two runs in 5.1 innings of work.
FRESHMEN SHOWING OUT: Arizona has had four different freshmen start at least nine games apiece the season, and they have continued to make a notable impact. In addition to Redshirt freshmen Nate Novitske and Tony Lira who have been outstanding, fellow redshirt freshman Jackson Forbes and true freshmen Caleb Danzeisen and Cash Brennan have had noteworthy starts to their collegiate careers. Danzeisen has started 12 games for Arizona, and he is third on the team with an on-base percentage of .417. Brennan, the younger brother of current UCLA starting right-fielder Payton Brennan, has started nine games and is batting .265, and he has been stellar at short stop. Danzeisen and Brennan are both coming off multi-hit performances, as they posted two hits apiece against Arizona State on Tuesday. Forbes has appeared in six games with four starts, and he is batting .333 with seven RBI. Forbes has pinch-hit twice this season and is 2-2 with a double and a home run.
STARTING ROTATION ON LOCK: Arizona brought back a large portion of its pitching from the 2025 season, as six of 11 pitchers who threw at least 18 innings last season return for the 2026 campaign, highlighted by returning starters Owen Kramkowski and Smith Bailey. Kramkowski has been the Friday night starter so far, while Bailey has served as the Saturday starter. Both pitchers were ranked in D1 Baseball's Preseason Top-200Starting Pitcher rankings. Bailey led the way coming in at #16, while Kramkowski landed at #39. Kramkowski is coming off a breakout sophomore campaign in which he earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors after starting 18 games and posting a record of 9-6 throughout the season. He compiled an ERA of 5.48 across a team-high 92.0 innings of work and recorded 90 strikeouts to just 18 walks. The Sahuarita, Arizona native garnered All-Big 12 Preseason honors and was tabbed a Preseason Third Team All-American by Perfect Game. Kramkowski did not have a great start to the season; however, he is coming off a tremendous performance in which he struck out a career-high 12 batters in six innings to help lead Arizona to a shutout victory over Fresno State this past Friday. It was the first time all season that Fresno State had been shutout and Kramkowski was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week following the superb performance. Bailey enters his sophomore season after an exceptional freshman campaign in which he was named a First Team Freshman All-American by D1Baseball, a Second Team Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game and was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. During the 2025 season, Bailey started 18 games on the mound, compiling a record of 3-3. He recorded an ERA of 3.94 across 89.0 innings of work and struck out 80 batters. Bailey also limited opposing hitters to just a .267 average at the plate. Bailey has been tremendous for the Wildcats this season, as he is 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and an opposing batting average of .193 in four starts. In his most recent outing against Fresno State, he threw a career best 7.0 innings and allowed just four hits and no runs, while striking out a career-high nine batters to help propel Arizona to a victory over last Saturday. Bailey is yet to allow more than two runs in a game this season. Senior transfer Luc Fladda has emerged as the Sunday starter for the Wildcats and has been exceptional this season. The Tulane transfer started 30 games across two seasons for the Green Wave the past two years, before joining Arizona ahead of the 2026 campaign for his final collegiate season. Fladda has tossed 20.0 innings this year, and has yet to issue a walk while recording 20 strikeouts. Fladda has and ERA of 2.25 and is holding opposing hitters to a .225 average at the plate. Fladda had one of the best performances of his career against UC Irvine (3/1), as he pitched 7.0 innings and allowed no runs on four hits and no walks, while matching a career-high with nine strikeouts. Arizona has been victorious in each of his past two starts.
