After Tuesday’s game against ASU was canceled due to impending inclement weather, the Wildcats will now open up conference play this weekend at Hi Corbett Field against Oregon State. 

This will be the first time Arizona associate head coach Nate Yeskie will be facing his former team, where he spent 11 seasons down in Corvallis, Ore., with the Beavers. Yeskie won the National Championship with Oregon State in 2018 and was named the D1Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year in 2017. 

After finishing third in the conference last season with a 36-20-1 overall record and 21-8 conference record, the Beavers have gotten off to a slow start this year currently sitting third to last in the conference with a 5-9 record entering conference play. They have lost five games in a row after losing two games against San Diego State and getting swept by University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Arizona is meanwhile riding tons of momentum heading into conference play as they currently sit third in the conference with a 10-5 record and have won three of their last four games. Yeskie has helped completely change around the Wildcats pitching staff. They now sit second in the conference with a 10.80 K/9, according to Pac-12 stats.

Wildcats catcher Austin Wells was recently named to the 2020 Buster Posey Award watch list. This award is presented to the top Division I collegiate catcher in the nation. Wells, who was also a consensus Preseason All-American, is hitting .375 so far this season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. This is the second consecutive year a Wildcats catcher was named to the watch list with Matthew Dyer was tabbed with the honor last season. 

The first game of the series is set for Friday evening with first pitch at 6:00 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field. The first postgame fireworks show of the season is scheduled for Saturday evening. 

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