After months of intrasquad play, the Arizona baseball team is all too eager to compete against someone donning a different jersey.

The Wildcats will get a chance to do just that as they open the regular season tonight against Loyola Marymount at 6 p.m. at Sancet Stadium. Action continues tomorrow at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

“”I don’t think I could do another week of intrasquad,”” senior second baseman Brad Boyer said. “”After a while you get sick and tired of seeing the same pitchers over and over. I think it’s time that we want to see other opponents and go after it.””

Tonight’s expected starting lineup includes five newcomers to the

program: leadoff hitter and sophomore third baseman Colt Sedbrook, junior first baseman Stephen Pearson, junior catcher Konrad Schmidt, freshman center fielder T.J. Steele and freshman right fielder David Plante.

“”I’m excited to see how they perform,”” said Arizona head coach Andy Lopez. “”It’s going to be a young group; it’s going to be a little bit of a work in progress.””

Sophomore starter Eric Berger will be looked upon both on the mound and at the plate, as he is scheduled to start tonight’s game and will also be used as a designated hitter throughout the series.

Freshman pitcher Mike Colla is slated to start tomorrow afternoon, while sophomore David Coulon will start on Sunday. After toying with the idea of starting junior Mark Melancon, Lopez said he hopes to use him as a closer at least for this weekend.

“”This is the first weekend of February,”” Lopez said. “”When we’re talking opening weekend of Pac-10 play it may be different, but right now, this is the way we want to go about it.””

Lopez, who was head coach at Pepperdine for six years, is familiar with West Coast Conference opponent Loyola Marymount and has accumulated a 23-11 record against the Lions.

While the Wildcats lost eight significant contributors in the offseason, the Lions return 20 letter winners from last season, including six position starters and seven pitchers.

Despite the personnel changes for the Wildcats, junior shortstop Jason Donald said the expectations are always the same.

“”I expect us to come out and play hard – the usual, basically,”” he said. “”The teams may change, but the style never changes under ‘Lopes.'””