TUCSON, Ariz. - The Arizona Wildcats are set to take on the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks on the road this weekend, marking the first three-game series between the two programs throughout history.

All three games will be available for viewing on ESPN+, with Friday's game slated to begin at 4 p.m. (MST), while Saturday's contest is scheduled for 12 p.m. (MST), and the series finale will begin on Sunday at 10 a.m. (MST).

LEADING OFF: 

• The Arizona Wildcats and the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks are set to play a three-game series for the first time throughout history.

• The Wildcats and Jayhawks have met just one time previously, with Arizona earning a 5-0 victory over Kansas in Tucson last season.

• Beau Sylvester extended his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games on Tuesday night, and he is batting .393 with an on-base percentage of .443 over the stretch.

• Luc Fladda was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday after tossing 6.2 scoreless innings last Thursday, and allowing six hits while recording a career-high 11 strikeouts to help lead Arizona to a 6-0 shutout win over BYU.

• Sophomore right-hander Smith Bailey was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week last week after tossing 6.0 innings of one-hit ball while striking out a career-high 15 batters against Kansas State.

• Tony Lira continues to pace the Arizona offense, as he leads the team in batting average (.360), hits (63), doubles (14), slugging percentage (.537), and on-base percentage (.443), and he is coming off a 3-for-4 performance with a single, double, and a triple at Grand Canyon on Tuesday night.

• True freshman Caleb Danzeisen leads the team with 32 walks this season, while ranking second in on-base percentage (.411), and he has reached base in 31 of 33 games started this season. 

• Senior Mathis Meurant is a combined 4-for-7 with two runs scored and two RBI over Arizona's last two games, and over his past seven games he is batting .346 with nine hits.

SOME WEEKEND THEMES: The Arizona Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks meet for a three-game series for the first time throughout history…Arizona and Kansas have played each other just one time previously, with the Wildcats collecting a 5-0 shutout win over the Jayhawks in a midweek matchup in Tucson last season…Arizona is coming off a difficult loss at Grand Canyon on Tuesday in which the Wildcats held an 8-4 lead entering the bottom of the ninth frame, before surrendering five runs as they were walked off…Last weekend, Arizona won the opening contest against BYU, before dropping the next two against the Cougars, as they lost the series…The Wildcats won their last Big 12 road series, winning two of three games at TCU three weeks ago…Senior pitcher Luc Fladda was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday after tossing 6.2 scoreless innings, while striking out a career-high 11 batters against BYU last Thursday…After Fladda's recognition, all three weekend starters for Arizona have now been named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week this season…Senior catcher Beau Sylvester enters the weekend on a 14-game hitting streak, and his batting average has ascended to .325, good for the second best mark on the team, while he ranks third in on-base percentage (.386)...In addition to the 14-game hitting streak, Sylvester has reached base in 27 of 30 games started this season…Senior shortstop Mathis Meurant has posted back-to-back multi-hit performances, first going 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBI against BYU last Saturday, before going 2-for-4 with a run scored at Grand Canyon on Tuesday night…Tony Lira continues to have an exceptional redshirt-freshman campaign for the Wildcats, and he leads the team in batting average (.360), hits (63), OPS (.980), slugging percentage (.537), on-base percentage (.443), runs (27), doubles (14), and extra-base hits (20)...Lira is coming off a 3-for-4 night at Grand Canyon and he has recorded a hit in 33 of 43 games, including 22 multi-hit performances…True freshman Caleb Danzeisen ranks first on the team in walks (32) and second in on-base percentage (.411), and he has reached base in 30 of 33 games started this season, including reaching base multiple times in 21 games…Arizona ranks second the Big 12 in walks to strikeout ratio (2.57), and Luc Fladda ranks first in the conference (0.77), while Owen Kramkowski ranks second (1.49)...The Wildcats also rank second in the Big 12 in base-on-balls percentage (15.6%), while Fladda (4.1%), and Kramkowski (6.6%) rank first and second in the league, respectively…Arizona is also first in the Big 12 in least amount of home runs allowed (33)...Arizona faces a potent Kansas team that is ranked No. 11 in the nation and currently sits in first place in the Big 12 standings…The Jayhawks are led by fourth-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald who owns a record of 133-83 at the helm of the program…Kansas has won 18 of their last 19 games, including seven straight victories entering the weekend…The Jayhawks own a perfect record of 9-0 at home in Big 12 play.

FLADDA AND BAILEY GO BACK-TO-BACK: Luc Fladda and Smith Bailey collected Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks, with Fladda earning the award on Monday, while Bailey was honored with the award last Monday. Fladda had  a superb performance in which he was dominant from start to finish, limiting BYU to no runs and just six hits, while fanning 11 batters and issuing zero walks, as he helped lead Arizona to an impressive 6-0 shutout victory over the Cougars. Fladda retired 11 consecutive batters with six strikeouts during a stretch from the third to seventh innings. Bailey had arguably the best performance of his career last Saturday night against Kansas State. The right-hander tossed 6.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out 15 batters. He became the first Arizona pitcher to record 15 strikeouts in over 15 years and he was just one strikeout shy of matching the program record for most strikeouts in a conference game. Bailey garnered a multitude of recognition for his performance, as he was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week, and was named to Baseball America's National Team of the Week.

LIRA LEADING THE WAY: Just as he has done all season long, redshirt-freshman Tony Lira continues to lead the way for Arizona offensively. Lira leads the Wildcats in a multitude of offensive categories, including OPS (.980), batting average (.360), hits (63), doubles (14), on-base percentage (.443), slugging percentage (.537), extra-base hits (20), and runs (27). Lira has recorded a hit in 27 of the past 32 games, and he has collected at least one hit in 33 of 43 contests this season. He has put together 212multi-hit performances, and he is batting an exceptional .455 with runners in scoring position this season (15-33). In addition to his stellar play at the plate, Lira has also been a vital piece defensively for Arizona, starting all 43 games at first base for the Wildcats. He is coming off a 3-for-4 outing against Grand Canyon in which he recorded a single, double, and a triple.

FABULOUS FRESHMEN: Arizona has had five separate freshmen start 19 or more games this season, and they have continued to make a noteworthy impact. Redshirt freshmen Tony Lira and Nate Novitske and true freshmen Caleb Danzeisen have led Arizona offensively all season. Lira has been tremendous, while Novitske ranks third on the team in batting average (.312) and second in hits (54). Danzeisen is second on the squad in on-base percentage (.411), and has reached base in 30 of the 33 games that he has started this season. Redshirt freshman Jackson Forbes has started 25 games and he is fifth on the team in RBI (21). True freshman Cash Brennan is coming off a weekend series against BYU in which he started the first two games and went a combined 2-6 at the plate with three runs scored.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION: Senior shortstop Mathis Meurant has played his best baseball of the season as of late, and he has recorded consecutive multi-hit performances. Over his past seven games, dating back to the series at TCU, Meurant is hitting .346 with nine hits. Meurant hails from Vaires-sur-Marne, France, and came to Arizona by way of Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona where he was a 2023 NJCAA First Team All-ACCAC performer. He is former teammates with Kansas starting pitcher and fellow French born player Mathis Nayral.

SYLVESTER STREAKING: Senior Beau Sylvester has continued to elevate his play as the season has gone on, and he is playing arguably the best baseball of his career as of late. Sylvester enters the weekend series on a 14-game hitting streak, marking the longest streak by an Arizona player this season. Sylvester has reached base safely in 27 of 30 games that he has started this season, and he has recorded a hit in 26 of 30 contests for the Wildcats. Sylvester's batting average has ascended to the second best mark on the team (.325), and he is also third in on-base percentage (.386), and tied for third in doubles (8). Over his current 14-game hitting streak, he is batting .443 with three doubles, a triple, and a home run. In Big 12 play, Sylvester leads Arizona in hitting, batting an exceptional .382 across 17 games started in conference play.

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 returned 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-200 Starting 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 had a tremendous performance against Fresno State (3/6) to get back into form, in which he struck out a career-high 12 batters in six innings to help lead Arizona to a shutout victory over Fresno State (3/6). Kramkowski was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week following the superb performance. He had back-to-back outstanding performances against TCU and Kansas State, tossing a combined 14.0 innings and striking out 15. Kramkowski is second on the team and 11th in the Big 12 in strikeouts (60), and he has pitched at least 5.0 innings in each of his last eight starts. He also ranks third in the conference in strikeout to walk ratio (6.00), second in base-on-balls percentage (6.6%), and second in walks per nine innings (1.49). Bailey is in 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. This season, he is 3-4 with a 4.68 ERA and an opposing batting average of .259 in 10 starts. He had the best performance of his career two weeks ago against Kansas State, in which he threw 6.0 innings and allowed just one hit and no runs, while striking out a career-high 15 batters. Bailey is first on the team and sixth in the conference in strikeouts this season (64). Senior transfer Luc Fladda 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 58.2 innings this year and has issued just five walks while recording 49 strikeouts, and he leads the Big 12 in strikeout/walk ratio (10.40). Fladda is coming off an outstanding performance where he tossed 6.2 scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters, earning Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance. He has pitched 6.0 innings or more in six of his 10 starts.