After shutting out ASU 8-0 on Tuesday night, the Arizona Wildcats will travel to Los Angeles for a three-game series against USC beginning Thursday night.

Kevin Ginkel carried the Wildcats against rival ASU on Tuesday, throwing a two-hit complete game shutout, and taking a perfect game all the way into the seventh inning.

“You can’t pitch any better than that,” Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson told Arizona Athletics. “He owned the strike zone. He was aggressive and down in the zone all night. You really just can’t do it much better than he did tonight. It was fun to watch.”

The Wildcats have caught fire behind strong pitching — they won five games in a row and seven of their last eight. This includes taking two out of three from Stanford and sweeping then-ranked No. 18 California on the road.

Arizona will look to gain more ground in the Pac-12 Conference standings and in the national rankings when it plays a USC team that is just 18-21 overall and 7-8 in Pac-12 games.

With their recent surge, the Wildcats are in third in the Pac-12 with a 10-8 record, only behind Utah and Washington who both sit at 9-6 in league play. Arizona did not play its best against these two teams, losing two out of three to Washington and getting swept by Utah.

The Wildcats have not been ranked all season either, but a solid series against USC should put them in the top 25. With a 26-14 overall record, Arizona is currently No. 27 in the country.

After showing struggles at the plate, third baseman and pitcher Bobby Dalbec looks like he’s starting to heat up, hitting four homeruns in the last five games.

Zach Gibbons continues to have a season for the books, leading the Pac-12 with a .380 average. He also has 13 multi-hit games in the last 21 games, and he has not committed an error this season.

All three games can be seen on Pac-12 Networks. 

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