Fresh off walking off Nevada on an Emilio Corona home run Wednesday night, Arizona is heading on the road to take on first-place Stanford this weekend for its second-to-last Pac-12 series of the regular season.
It is a battle of the top two offenses in the conference. But UA coach Chip Hale is confident in his pitching staff heading into this weekend.
โWeโre up there, so the night game (Friday) will probably be pretty fair for the pitchers,โ Hale said. โAfter that, there will probably be a lot of well-hit balls.
โI think weโre going to pitch really well up there. I have a good feeling about that with our three starters.โ
The Wildcats will look for another strong start from Cam Walty on Friday night. Walty has thrown seven innings in three of his past four starts. He has been dominant of late, posting a 1.00 ERA across his past five starts.
Arizona (26-20, 9-15 Pac-12) also have its whole bullpen available this weekend after Hale utilized seven pitchers in limited fashion in Wednesdayโs 10-9 win over Nevada.
Chase Davis blasted two home runs Wednesday night, tying him for first in the Pac-12 this season with 16 homers. The two long balls also pushed him into a tie for fifth place all time with David Shermet with 34 career home runs.
Arizona's Chase Davis flips his bat on his way to first after drawing a leadoff walk against Oregon in the second inning of their Pac-12 game at Hi Corbett Field on March 31, 2023.
โHe has learned a lot this year,โ Hale said of Davis, whoโs slashing .378/.507/.750. โHis pitch recognition is really good right now. Iโm very happy with what he is doing and very proud of the work he has put in to get there.โ
The Stanford pitching staff leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts, but its team ERA (5.65) is third to last in the conference. As a team, UA has struck out the second-fewest times in the conference. Making contact is going to be critical for the Wildcats to have a chance of taking the series from the fifth-ranked Cardinal.
โWeโre pretty good about battling with two strikes,โ Hale said. โThere are going to be strikeouts. We know that.โ
Stanfordโs Friday-night starter, veteran left-hander Quinn Mathews, leads the Pac-12 with 107 strikeouts. He has recorded double-digit strikeouts in six straight starts.
โWhen we get guys on base, we have to capitalize on it,โ Hale said.
Arizona is 2-12 on the road this season, but the Wildcats have been competitive in the majority of those losses, including the last Pac-12 road series two weeks ago against Oregon State. The Wildcats got swept, but they had the lead in the ninth inning in two of the three games.
Stanford (32-13, 18-6) is 18-6 at home this season, swept Arizona State on the road last weekend and took two of three games vs. UCLA at home two weeks ago.
The Wildcats have seven games left in the regular season, facing UC Irvine on Monday before hosting USC in the final Pac-12 series next weekend.
Arizona needs every win it can muster to secure a spot in the Pac-12 Tournament, which begins May 23 in Scottsdale. The league expanded the field from eight to nine teams this season, but the Wildcats arenโt a lock to make the top nine.
Entering Friday, Arizona is in eighth place, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Cal, which is also 9-15 in league play. Washington State is 8-15 and took two of three from Arizona in Pullman. Utah is 8-18-1, having been swept by the Wildcats at Hi Corbett. Cal and WSU face each other this weekend in Berkeley.
Arizona swept Stanford during the regular season last March. The Cardinal then beat the Wildcats twice in the Pac-12 Tournament before advancing to the College World Series.
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After trailing 4-0 in the first inning, the Arizona Wildcats rallied to run-rule Arizona State 13-4 in the first game of the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium.
