Player of the Week

Tianyi Xiong – Men’s golf

Tianyi Xiong, a freshman, led the Arizona men’s golf team in its most recent tournament with him finishing in a tie for ninth place at 6-under, his third top-10 result of the season. The Wildcats lost two spots in the Thunderbird Collegiate final round, finishing in fourth place at 9-under par. In the opening of the Thunderbird Collegiate tournament, Xiong also led the Wildcats to a tie for second place at 6-under after consecutive rounds of 68. Arizona’s second-best rounds of the day came from Xiong’s consecutive 3-under rounds.

Xiong is from Shenzhen, China, but came to the States where he attended Montverde Academy in Florida. Prior to Arizona, he recorded a trio of marquee wins in 2023 that include the China Amateur Golf Open Series 12, CLPGQ Xiamen Series and the Mission Hills Jack Nicklaus Junior Championships, which saw him win by three strokes at Mission Hills Golf Club.

Team of the Week

Baseball

The Wildcats collected their 11th straight win against Louisiana Tech University this week, making their record (21-13) and (10-5) in conference play. Arizona hosted the Bulldogs from Friday, April 12, to Sunday, April 14. Arizona’s current winning streak is its longest in a single season in over a decade. In addition, the Wildcats have won three straight weekend series sweeps, defeating Louisiana Tech, UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley in order.

On Friday night, the Arizona pitching staff combined to strike out 15 and give up just 1 run on three hits, while the offense hammered out 12 hits and forced four walks to score 9 runs. Pitcher Jackson Kent continued his dominant starting. He struck out nine and allowed 1 run on three hits. Brendan Summerhill continued to show out by scoring 3 runs and three extra-base hits, bringing the Wildcats the 9-1 victory.

Saturday night turned into a walk-off win for the Wildcats. Trailing 5-0 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Arizona batted around the order and scored 6 runs to win the series. Following what appeared to be Mason White’s game-winning double, which was later determined to be a game-tying ground rule, Garen Caulfield finished off the incredible rally with a walk-off single through the left side of the infield.

Sunday sealed the sweep for Arizona, the Wildcats winning 5-2. Pitcher Cam Walty allowed only 2 runs on four hits across 7.0 innings. Pitchers Eric Orloff (left) and Tony Pluta (right) combined for just one hit; Orloff struck out two batters from Louisiana Tech, while Pluta recorded his second save of the season. Emilio Corona, a right fielder, opened the scoring early with his first of two RBI singles of the game in the first inning.

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