Wildcats Open Pac-12 Tournament Versus Washington - University of Arizona Athletics (2024)

TUCSON, Ariz. — The No. 18 ranked Pac-12 regular season champion Arizona Wildcats (33-20, 20-10) open play at the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament this Wednesday, May 22 against the Washington Huskies (19-29-1, 10-20) at Scottsdale Stadium.

Wednesday's game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM. Tickets to all games this week are available here.

As the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, the Wildcats need just one win over either Washington or California to advance out of pool play into the semifinal round.

The Wildcats are led by Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Chip Hale, along with eight all-conference honorees. Hale on Tuesday became the first person in Pac-12 baseball history to be named Player and Coach of the Year. Arizona's six First Team All-Conference are tied for their most ever in a season.

For more, a complete game preview is below.

Leading Off...

• The No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats open up their run at the 2024 Pac-12 Baseball Tournament with a Wednesday matchup against the No. 9 seed Washington Huskies.
• Wednesday night's game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks with Roxy Bernstein (PxP) and Wes Clements (Analyst) on the call. It will also be broadcast live on Wildcats Radio 1290 AM with play-by-play from Brian Jeffies and Brody Dryden.
• Arizona secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament after clinching the Pac-12 regular season championship on Saturday night with a 4-3 win over Oregon State. It was the sixth Pac-12 championship for Arizona and their first since 2021.
• Head coach Chip Hale was selected as the 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year on Tuesday morning. He is the first person in Pac-12 baseball history to win both Player of the Year (1987) and Coach of the Year.
• RHP Clark Candiotti, OF Brendan Summerhill, RHP Cam Walty, INF Mason White, LHP Jackson Kent, and INF Garen Caulfield all picked up Pac-12 All-Conference honors. OF Emilio Corona and RHP Casey Hintz both earned Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention nods.
• Shortstop Mason White leads the team with 60 RBI and 17 home runs, marks that rank third and fourth in the Pac-12, respectively.
• The Wildcats and Huskies have met 76 times previously, with games dating back to 1992 and Arizona holding a 43-33 lead in the all-time series. Washington won the regular season series, 2-1, in Seattle last month (3-2, 3-4, 8-9).

PAC-12 AWARDS: The Arizona Wildcats picked up their most All-Conference honorees in over a decade and head coach Chip Hale has been selected as the 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, the conference announced on Tuesday morning. Coach Hale becomes the first person in Pac-12 baseball history, and just the second person in conference history regardless of sport or gender, to win both Pac-10/12 Player of the Year (1987) and Pac-12 Coach of the Year. He joins elite company along with current Oregon State Gymnastics head coach, Tanya Chaplin, who won multiple of each award. In addition to Hale's major award win, Clark Candioitti, Brendan Summerhill, Cam Walty, Mason White, Jackson Kent, and Garen Caulfield all picked up Pac-12 All-Conference honors. Six All-Conference selections ties a program record and is the most for Arizona Baseball since the 2012 National Championship team also tallied six. Arizona also picked up a pair of Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention selections in Emilio Corona and Casey Hintz. Hale took a team picked to finish ninth in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll all the way to a regular season championship, the sixth in program history. He is the first Wildcat skipper to earn the award since 2021, and the fourth to win the award all-time. Hale's former head coach during his time as a Wildcat student-athlete, Jerry Kindall, rattled off three Pac-10 South Coach of the Year awards in 1980, 1989, and 1992. From March 24–April 26, under Hale's direction, the Wildcats won 11 consecutive Pac-12 Conference games, the program's longest single-season conference win streak since they joined the Pac-10 for the 1979 baseball season. The 2024 Arizona Wildcats piled up 30+ wins for the ninth consecutive full season, and the 35th time across 45 seasons in the Pac-10/12, while also tallying 20+ conference wins for just the third time since 1990. All eight of the Wildcats All-Conference honorees are first-time recipients of the award. This year also marks the most Arizona pitchers to earn First Team All-Conference honors since 2008 and what is believed to be the first time all three of the Wildcats primary starting pitchers landed on the list.

• Chip Hale

• SP Clark Candiotti
• OF Brendan Summerhill
• SP Cam Walty
• INF Mason White
• SP Jackson Kent
• INF Garen Caulfield

• OF Emilio Corona
• RP Casey Hintz

POSTSEASON POINTS:

• The Wildcats are participating in their third straight Pac-12 Baseball Tournament this week. Their No. 1 seed is the best they have secured in three seasons (2023, 8th; 2022, 5th).
• Arizona holds a 5-3 record in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, having gone 2-2 in 2022 and 3-1 in 2024.
• The Wildcats have never played either of their pool opponents (Washington & California) previously at the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament.
• As the No. 1 seed this week, the Wildcats need to win just one game to advance to the semifinal round.
• The Wildcats went 4-2 combined against California (3-0 road) and Washington (1-2 road) this season.

MAKE IT ROTATE: The Wildcats 2024 weekend rotation, consisting primarily of left-hander Jackson Kent along with right-handers Clark Candiotti and Cam Walty, has posted a 3.49 ERA this season, the eighth best mark in the nation and the second best among Power Five programs according to data from FridayStarters.com. That number improves when only looking at Pac-12 Conference games, where the Arizona big three have posted a 3.32 ERA.

STREAKONOMICS: Infielder Andrew Cain (7 games) and outfielder Brendan Summerhill (5 games), both carry extended hit streaks into the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament. Summerhill has posted the longest hit streak of the season thus far, a 12-game streak that was snapped on April 7 at California. Summerhill also holds the longest on-base streak on the team this year, a 33-game streak that ended last weekend at Washington. Over that 33-game stretch, Summerhill posted a .428 on-base percentage; he drew 20 walks and collected 47 hits during the streak. Cain (7 games) and Summerhill (5 games) also hold the longest active on-base streaks on the team heading into this week's action.

PITCH PERFECT: Arizona's pitching staff has excelled this season under first-year pitching coach Kevin Vance. Under Vance's leadership the Wildcats have posted the 22nd best ERA in the nation, a 4.32 mark that also ranks second in the Pac-12 and ranks ninth among Power Five programs. Arizona's pitching staff has limited walks to the tune of just 136 free passes, the fewest in the nation and 16 fewer than second-place Nebraska (152). The Wildcats enter the weekend as the best staff in the nation in fewest walks per nine innings (2.60) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.42). Arizona also ranks 31st in the nation with a 1.40 WHIP.

DIRTY THIRTY: The Wildcats recorded their 30th win of the season last week at Arizona State, giving them 30+ wins in all three seasons under the leadership of head coach Chip Hale. The Wildcats have now posted nine consecutive full seasons with at least 30 wins, dating back to 2015 and not counting the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign. Since joining the Pac-10 for the 1979 baseball season, Arizona has played 45 seasons and collected 30+ wins in 35 of them.

SHORTSTOP SLUGGERS: Sophom*ore infielder Mason White, the Wildcats everyday shortstop this season, currently leads the team and ranks tied for fourth in the Pac-12 with 17 home runs. Dating back through the 1998 season (StatCrew era), no Arizona shortstop has hit more home runs in a single season. He is just one home run shy of breaking into the Wildcats all-time single-season leaderboard. Of White's 17 home runs, nine have been hit against Pac-12 competition (including three hit in two midweek non-conference games against Stanford and Arizona State), while eight were swatted against non-conference opponents.

START US UP: Arizona's weekend starting rotation of Jackson Kent, Clark Candiotti, and Cam Walty has been arguably the strongest in the Pac-12 Conference this season. All three were selected to the Pac-12 All-Conference team, a first in program history. The trio has combined to make 40 starts this season, 19 of which have registered as quality starts (6.0+ IP, three or fewer ER allowed) and 35 of which have lasted five or more innings.

NOTHING BUT NETZ: Fifth-year senior Dawson Netz has established himself as one of the most experienced pitchers in Arizona Baseball history. Going into this weekend, Netz has logged 92 appearances in his collegiate career — 14 starts and 78 relief — the third most games pitched in Wildcat history. His 92 pitching appearances are tied for the 19th most among all active Division I pitchers. Netz recently moved past Ben White (1993-96) on the all-time leaderboard, the father of Dawson's current teammate, Mason White.

MILESTONE MEN: With a win over UCLA on March 29, Arizona Baseball picked up the 3,000th victory in program history. The Wildcats joined the ranks of just nine other programs that boast 3,000 program wins. As it currently stands, Arizona is the 10th all-time winningest program in the history of college baseball. Four of the winningest programs in college baseball history are current members of the Pac-12 Conference.

TRIPLES ARE BEST, TRIPLES ARE SAFE: Arizona currently leads the Pac-12 and ranks tied for third nationally with 24 triples; the Wildcats average of 0.45 triples per game is the fifth best mark among all Division I programs. Outfielder Emilio Corona leads the team and the Pac-12 with seven triples, while fellow outfielder Brendan Summerhill is not far behind with six three-baggers. Since Arizona moved to Hi Corbett Field in 2012 they have led the Pac-12 in triples seven times.