Feb. 23, 2004
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Up Next: Arizona State, Tuesday Feb. 24
National Rankings: 7th SW, 7th CB, 12th BA
Time: 7 pm
Site: Packard Stadium - Tempe, Arizona
Radio: Live - KNST 790 AM - Ryan Radtke (P-B-P)
Live Stats: www.arizonaathletics.com (baseball page)
First Meeting: 1907 - Last Meeting: 2003
Series Record: UA Leads 219-178-1
Current Streak: Arizona State has won three straight games dating back to last season.
Pitching Probables:
Tuesday: TBA vs. LHP Brett Bordes (0-0, 27.00 ERA)
A Look At Arizona State
The Sun Devils enter the renewal of non-conference games against the Wildcats on a high note having defeated defending national champions Rice en route to a 3-1 week ... ASU defeated the Owls, Gonzaga and Memphis, while dropping a game against Lamar ... The Devils enter the game with the Wildcats with a team .278 batting average, 29 doubles, five home runs and 11 stolen bases ... Junior All-America candidate Dustin Pedroia paces the ASU offense with a .524 batting average, eight doubles and nine RBI ... Colin Curtis leads the Devils with two home runs and 10 RBI ... Led by newcomer James Urquidez (3-0, 0.90 ERA), the ASU pitching staff enters the game with a 3.24 team ERA and 89 strikeouts against just 37 walks ... Head coach Pat Murphy is in his 10th season on the Sun Devil bench and has amassed a 268-180-1 record as the ASU skipper.
UC Irvine Recap
The Wildcats dropped the opening two games of the series and then found themselves deadlocked at 8-8 on Sunday with the Anteaters having to catch their flight out of Tucson resulting in a tie game ... Offense: Arizona struggled offensively in key situtations in all three games, consistently stranding runners on base ... All totaled, Arizona left 27 runners on during the weekend, including 15 on second or third ... UA batted .302 as a team, with five doubles, two home runs and 14 RBI ... The Wildcats struck out 26 times while drawing just seven walks ... Freshman Jason Donald contiuned the torrid start to his Arizona career, leading all players with a .571 average (8 for 14) with both of UA's homers in the series, two RBI and four runs scored ... Donald tied the Arizona record for hits in a game in Sunday's tie, finishing 6 for 6 with a home run and two runs scored ... Junior Pat Reilly finished the series 4 for 9 (.444) with three runs scored ... In Friday's 3-1 loss, UCI's Brett Smith limited the Wildcat offense to the one run on just six hits. He finished with seven punch outs against no walks ... Junior Jeff Van Houten was the lone Wildcat to finish with mutiple hits, going 2 for 4 ... Saturday, Arizona's ninth-inning rally came up 90 feet short. After plating two runs to cut the UCI lead to one, freshman Bill Rhinehart flew out to right field for the final out, stranding the game tying run in Derek Decater at third ... Arizona left 10 runners on base in the contest ... Donald, who finished 2 for 4 in the game, hit his fourth home run of the season in the loss ... Arizona rallied again from a deficit on Sunday only to see the clock run out on any decision in the game ... Arizona out-hit UCI 19 to 11 in the tie ... Among Donald's six hits was his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, and a double ... Pitching: Despite the two losses and the tie, Arizona's pitchers overall had a fairly decent weekend ... Paced by starter Koley Kolberg, the staff posted a 4.82 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just eight walks ... Working against a very impressive Smith on Friday, Kolberg tossed Arizona's first complete game of the year ... The right-hander was the hard-luck loser after giving up just three runs on 10 hits with seven K's and one walk ... Saturday starter Kevin Guyette was roughed up for six runs, five earned, on nine hits in just 2 2/3 innings. Victimized by a number seeing-eye singles, Guyette was charged with his first loss of the year ... A very bright spot for the Arizona bullpen came in the form of sophomore Pat Lawler. The second-year right-hander gave up just one hit and no runs over the final 6 1/3 innings of the loss. He struck out four and walked just one ... Sunday's starter Luis Cortez went 6 1/3 innings giving up four runs on six hits ... Relievers Mark Melancon and Chris Frey were responsible for giving up four of UCI's five runs in the seventh inning of the tie game ... The pair failed to record an out in the inning.
Digging a Hole
Arizona has consisently found themselves behind without even having a chance to swing a bat. The Wildcats have surrended at least one run in the top of the first in eight of their nine contests thus far. The good news is that UA has come from behind to win five of the games, but they have also lost twice and tied once. The one game Arizona scored first, vs. Fullerton on Feb. 15, it lost.
Off To A Good Start
The expectations on freshman Jason Donald were high entering the year and so far the phenom has exceded them. Starting all nine games at shortstop and batting in three different spots in the order, Donald has been a terror for opponents. The freshman enters the week with a .432 batting average, team-highs in RBI (15), home runs (5) and runs scored (13). In just his ninth game he tied a school record with a 6 for 6 afternoon at the plate and already has more home runs through nine games then UA freshman record holder Shelley Duncan did.
Sophomore Slumps
A key to Arizona's offense this season was the return of the highly talented sophomore class. A year removed from having four players named Freshman All-America and helping Arizona to numerous school records , the group as a whole has struggled to start the 2004 year. Through the first nine games of the season the class of five main offensive catalysts is batting a combined .212 (22 for 104) with just four 2Bs, two HRs, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored. In comparison, through the first nine games of their freshman season last year, the same group was hitting .406 (52 for 128) with 12 2Bs, 6 HRs, 35 RBI and 26 runs scored.
Reilly, Right Here
Junior Pat Reilly has been one of Arizona's consistent producers at the plate. The redshirt first baseman is batting a team-high .542 with five RBI and eight runs scored thus far. Although he has appeared in all nine game this year, his numbers as a starter are especially impressive. In five games in the starting lineup, he is batting .555 (10 for 18) with four RBI and four runs scored.
Bouncing Back
2003 Pac-10 batting champion Jeff Van Houten got off to a rocky start, but has since bounced back to his form from last season. After a 0 for 8 effort in UA's first two games of the year, the junior right fielder has batted .400 (12 for 30) with a double, two triples, three RBI and eight runs scored in UA's last seven games.
Going the Distance
Junior Koley Kolberg tossed Arizona's first complete game of the season in a 3-1 loss to UC Irvine. The effort marked the first time since Shawn Barrington in 1996 that a UA pitcher has worked a complete game and been saddled with a loss. Barrington was on the losing end of a 4-3 decision at UCLA. Former Wildcat Richie Gardner worked nine innings twice last season without recording a win, but he also did not earn a decision in either contest as both games carried over into extra innings.
Theft on the Decline
After swiping the third-most bases in school history last season, the Wildcats steal attempts are down this season. After averaging 3.2 attempts per game in 2003, UA is averaging 1.4 this season. While the attempts might be down, the success rate is still high. The Wildcats are 9 for 13 (69%) in stolen bases this season.
Offensive Numbers
The Wildcats are averaging 7.8 runs, 12.1 hits, 4.4 walks, 2.0 doubles and 1.4 home runs per game this season. Arizona has scored in double figure runs in four of its nine games thus far. In fact, Arizona's three double digit run tallies against CS Fullerton (11, 10, 10) marked the first time since 1986 that the Titans have given up 10 or more runs in each game of a series.
Pitching Numbers
Arizona pitchers are 5-3 with a 5.79 ERA in 84 innings this season ... UA's starting staff is 2-2 with a 5.85 ERA overall this year, while the bullpen has tallied a 3-1 record with one save and a 5.68 ERA ... The Wildcats have a better than 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio having punched out 68 opponents vs. 29 walks ... Four of Arizona's 29 walks have been intentional ... Koley Kolberg, Kevin Guyette and Luis Cortez are averaging 5 2/3 innings per start this year ... Opponents are averaging 10.8 hits per game against Wildcat pitchers ... Opponents are batting .261 against Arizona's bullpen and .305 against the starters ... Arizona relievers have allowed 13 of the 28 inherited runners to come around and score (46%).
Polling Place
After a 0-2-1 weekend against UC Irvine, the Wildcats took a tumble in all three collegiate polls. UA slipped eight spots from No. 11 to No. 19 in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll, five places, from 14th to 19th, in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and three spots 13th to 16th, in the Baseball America poll.
Also it was noted by a pair of former UA baseball letterwinners that last week's claim of UA's highest ranking since 1993 was in fact not true. Both Dave Abbot and Rob Shabansky pointed out that the 1998 team that started 16-0 rose as high as No. 2 in both the Collegiate Baseball Poll and the Sports Weekly Poll and all the way to No. 7 in the Baseball America rankings. Thanks to both Dave and Rob for unearthing the error.
Mighty Mo
Senior Moises Duran is on the verge of breaking into Arizona's all-time power group. Including his two round-trippers this year, the 5-foot-9 infielder has 27 career home runs, placing him just one away from the career top 10 list. After hitting just one bomb his freshman season, the three-year starter has continued to up his total each year. His sophomore year saw him finish with nine homers and last season he led all Wildcat players with 15. Duran is also already tied for the school record for career grand slams at four.
Drive Home Safely
Moises Duran's walk-off homer against UCR on Feb. 6, came almost two years to the date of his last game ending HR. The Wildcat infielder ended Arizona's 1-0 win over San Diego State with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth on Feb. 7, 2002.
Flexibility
Head coach Andy Lopez and the Arizona coaching staff has great flexibility in both the batting order and on defense. The depth in Arizona's lineup allows for the coaches to get hitter/pitcher match ups which favor UA at the plate and then move players around the field to make the lineup shifts on offense work on defense. The following is a list of Arizona regulars who can/have play(ed) more than one position:
Player B/T Positions
Zach Bies R/R 1B, OF
Brad Boyer L/R OF, 3B, 2B
Jason Donald R/R 2B, 3B, SS
Moises Duran R/R 2B, 3B, SS
Chris Frey L/L LHP, OF, 1B
John Hardy R/R 2B, 3B, SS
DJ Lewis R/R OF, C, DH
Pat Reilly L/L 1B, OF
Wildcats Picked To Finish Third In Pac
In a vote by the conference coaches, the Wildcats have been selected to finish third in the Pac-10 this season. Trailing defending conference champs Stanford and Arizona State, the Wildcats received one first place vote in the poll. First place votes were worth eight points, second place seven, and so on. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
2004 Pac-10 Preseason Coaches Poll
Rank School (1st Pl. Votes) Total Points
1. Stanford (7) 62
2. Arizona State (1) 54
3. Arizona (1) 47
4. USC 46
5. Washington 39
6. Cal 26
7. UCLA 21
8. Oregon State 18
9. Washington State 8
Welcome Back
The Wildcats return 15 letterwinners from the 2003 team, including four freshman All-Americans and two All-Pac-10 players. Among the returning players this season is the reigning Pac-10 batting champion Jeff Van Houten, 2003 team home run leader Moises Duran and Pac-10 steals champion Brad Boyer.
Welcome In
A total of 15 newcomers enter the program this season. Among the group of fresh faces are pitchers Koley Kolberg, Sean Jarrett, Luis Cortez, Mark Melancon and Tyler Tiedeman. Outfielders DJ Lewis and Bill Rhinehart and infielder Jason Donald will also look to make an impact as freshmen this year.
Preseason Honors
Junior Jeff Van Houten, who became the first UA player since 1993 to hit over .400 in a season last year, has been feted as a third-team All-American by both Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Van Houten is the first Wildcat to garner such preseason recognition since 2001 when Shelley Duncan was named a second-team AA selection by Baseball America and third-team by Collegiate Baseball.
Kindall Field at Sancet Stadium
On January 24 the Arizona athletics department rededicated it baseball facility to honor the two winningest coaches in school history. Jerry Kindall and Frank Sancet combined to win 1,691 games, three national titles and advance to 14 College World Series appearances. The rededication of the field was held in conjunction with the Jim Click Alumni Weekend that featured a golf tournament, dinner and the annual alumni game.
Formerly know as Frank Sancet Field, the facility will now be known as Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium.
More Than Just A Name Change
In addition to a change in title, the baseball facility also continued its gradual facelift during the off-season. Recently completed projects include a brick facade around the outside of the ticket office and grandstand, as well as a new wooden outfield fence. The new wall in the outfield comes in at 12 feet high from the foul lines, before dipping down to eight feet across center field. The playing dimensions of the field will remain the same.
Head Coach Andy Lopez
Entering his third season with the Wildcats, Andy Lopez has already made a huge impact in revitalizing the program. In two-plus seasons he has put together a 71-50-1 (.856) record at UA, led the Wildcats to their first postseason appearance since 1999 and tallied a pair of top 10 recruiting classes. One of only eight coaches in Division I history to lead two different schools to the College World Series, Lopez is on track to join the select group of skippers to take three clubs to Omaha. Currently only Larry Cochelle (Oral Roberts, Cal State Fullerton, Oklahoma) and Ron Polk (Georgia Southern, Mississippi State, Georgia) can make a claim of that feat.
Welcome Coach Kling
Arizona will have a new face on the bench this year in assistant coach Steve Kling. Replacing the departed Jeff Morris, Kling will serve primarily as the hitting instructor for the Wildcats. Formerly an assistant under Lopez for 12 years at both Pepperdine and Florida, he was instrumental in helping the Waves to the 1992 CWS title and the Gators to two appearances in Omaha. The 1996 Collegiate Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year, Kling's offenses in Gainesville established 23 team school records while his players posted 12 career and 12 single season records.
