Arizona spent two of the first three weekends of this season away from home, albeit in Major League Baseball parks in Texas, facing stern tests in every game. The first trip did not go well, losing all three games in Arlington, the second involved a pair of wins over ranked SEC opponents.
The experience from those trips, as well as the momentum gained during a 9-0 homestand at Hi Corbett Field, should come in handy as the Wildcats play their first Big 12 Conference road series this weekend at West Virginia.
“We’re going to treat it the same as we’ve treated every game,” junior right fielder Brendan Summerhill said. “Just go out there, play hard, play Wildcat baseball, and typically that does the job. Weather will be probably not like it is here, but it doesn’t matter to us. We’re just going to go play our baseball.”
Arizona (16-4, 3-0 Big 12) has won 16 of 17 since that 0-3 start, the only loss coming to defending College World Series champion Tennessee. The lone blemish for West Virginia (18-1, 1-0) came at home to Kennesaw State on March 8 but since then has won five in a row including a midweek sweep of James Madison.
The Mountaineers return a large chunk of the team that won the Tucson Regional last June at Hi Corbett, as well as a few guys from the one that took two of three at Arizona to open the 2023 season. The biggest difference is at head coach, where Steve Sabins takes over for the retired Randy Mazey after being an assistant the previous nine seasons.
“It’s the same team,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “They’re multi-dimensional. Like Cincinnati if they get ahead they’re going to keep bunting, keep pushing the envelope.”
West Virginia is hitting .322 as a team and has the No. 2 hitter in the Big 12 in junior outfielder Skylar King (.444). The Mountaineers lead the conference with 52 stolen bases, their team ERA is 3.14 and opponents’ batting average is .198, tops in the conference.
The temperature isn’t expected to get above 60 during Arizona’s time in Morgantown, though Arizona has become used to that with a handful of colder-than-expected games in Tucson including two where rain fell during. That won’t take getting used to as much as the field itself.
Kendrick Family Ballpark is one of several artificial turf playing surfaces in the Big 12 and, like almost every stadium in college baseball, is considerably smaller than Hi Corbett. It’s 325 feet down both foul lines, compared to 366 to left and 349 to right at HiC.
“All the outfields we go to compared to this place are very easy,” Summerhill said. “When we practice (on the road) we mark off where we’re going to stand, find a landmark.”
Arizona’s ERA has shrunk to 3.61 after being over 11 after the 0-3 start, and on the just-completed homestand it was 1.25. The Wildcats haven’t allowed more than five runs in their past 12 games and has given up just nine home runs all season, seven in big league parks.