Wildcats don't need Jackson Kent to be Superman, but a series-opening win would fly

Fresh off its dominant 20-0 win over Arizona State on Wednesday night at Hi Corbett Field, Arizona is looking for any sort of momentum it can take from that performance to use as a potential turning point for the season.

Arizona (19-15, 6-12) is currently in ninth place in the Pac-12, with the top nine teams making the conference tournament at the end of the regular season. It was a non-conference win over ASU on Wednesday; the Wildcats are back in action in conference play this weekend against last-place Utah.

“If you think about it, we have four series left in our league,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “You think about winning two out of three in each of those series, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape. That’s kind of our goal is to continue to win series, and obviously you don’t win the series without getting ready for the first game.”

The Wildcats are 1-5 in series openers in Pac-12 play with their lone win coming in the opening conference series when they swept Cal.

Hale made a notable change last week to the starting rotation against Washington State, naming left-hander Jackson Kent the Friday-night starter.

Kent, who was on the team last season but was not eligible to play, had previously been a starter in his career but had made nine appearances out of the bullpen for UA up until that start.

“TJ (Nichols) was our Friday-night guy and things weren’t going so well, so Jackson has earned the chance to do it,” Hale said. “He had a good outing up in Pullman against Washington State, so we’ll give him another one.

“In a perfect world, you are throwing the guy that you think can get the series off to a good start. ... Nothing is locked in.”

Kent allowed three runs on three hits over 4⅓ innings last week against the Cougars.

“It was a cool experience for me,” Kent said. “I’ve been a starter my whole life, and then coming out on a Friday night game was pretty fun. ...

“I wasn’t that nervous. I was just ready to go because ... I wanted to compete.”

Kent, who was originally committed to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, got on the phone with assistant coach Trip Couch last year, came on a visit to Tucson and decided to take Arizona’s offer.

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Despite not getting to play for the Wildcats last season, Kent was still able to work out with the team, throw bullpen sessions and partake in intra-squad scrimmages when the club was on the road.

“I still feel like I was part of the team even though I wasn’t playing,” Kent said.

The Utah series kicks off the final stretch of the season. The Pac-12 Tournament starts May 23 — just over a month away. The Wildcats are hopeful the ASU win — which featured a gem by starter Cam Walty — will be a launching pad.

“Cameron Walty came out there firing bullets, and it was great to see,” Kent said. “I think we’re going to use that momentum into the weekend, which we should, and I think our pitchers use a lot off of that and our hitters too.”

Inside pitch

Hale said that Walty, who has thrown 12 scoreless innings in his past two starts, will likely start next Tuesday against New Mexico State. Depending on how this weekend goes, Arizona could limit him in that start to prepare for him to join the weekend rotation for the following weekend’s series against Oregon State in Corvallis.

Mac Bingham, Chase Davis and Nik McClaughry are all tied at the top of the Pac-12 in runs scored (42). Bingham also leads the conference in hits (55), while Kiko Romero leads the league in RBIs (52).

As a team, Arizona leads the Pac-12 in batting average (.318), on-base percentage (.398), slugging percentage (.546), hits (397) doubles (96) and total bases (682). The Wildcats are 10th (out of 11) in ERA (5.55). They are last in ERA (7.07) in conference games.

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