(Phoenix, AZ) #8 ARIZONA at GRAND CANYON
APRIL 12-13 (GCU SOFTBALL STADIUM)
THE GAMES (Times MST)
40 | Friday, April 12 (5 p.m.) | 
at 
| GCU.TV | Live Stats | Twitter Updates
41 | Friday, April 12 (7 p.m.) | at 
| GCU.TV | Live Stats | Twitter Updates
42 | Saturday, April 12 (1 p.m.) | at 
| Fox Sports Arizona (Baseball Day in Arizona) | Live Stats | Twitter Updates
THIS WEEK: After 14 straight wins since the start of conference play, the Wildcats have arrived at their Pac-12 bye week and, for the first time ever, will head to Grand Canyon for a three-game series. The Cats and the Lopes have met seven times prior, all at Hillenbrand Stadium, with the Wildcats winning all seven, most recently a three-game sweep last season. Arizona and Grand Canyon will meet in a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. before finishing the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. MST. Saturday’s game will be televised by Fox Sports Arizona for their Baseball/Softball Day which will feature 24 straight hours of baseball/softball on the network.
LEADING OFF
Eighth-ranked Arizona rides a 14-game winning streak into its Pac-12 bye week, its longest winning streak since winning 26 in-a-row in 2017. Included in the 14-game winning streak are four Pac-12 sweeps, giving the Cats their third best start in UA’s conference history, joining 2017 (13-0) and 1994 (23-0). During Arizona’s 14-game winning streak, Arizona is outscoring its opponents 136-13.
Arizona went 5-0 last week vs. UTEP and Utah, outscoring its opposition 70-5 in the five games, including a school-record 48 runs in the sweep of the Utes in Salt Lake City.
The Wildcats lead the country in home runs (77), already surpassing their 2018 total of 75 that was sixth most in the country. The 77 home runs exceed the number of total runs that UA’s pitchers have allowed all season (73).
Junior shortstop Jessie Harper, after hitting four home runs last week, leads the country with a career-most 21 home runs. She is 10th in UA history with 58 for her career, two away from becoming the fourth Wildcat in school history to hit her 60th career home run during her junior year (the other three are all in the top 6 in NCAA history in career home runs).
Arizona’s offense is top 10 in the NCAA in home runs per game (3rd – 1.97), slugging percentage (3rd – .638), batting average (6th – .344), scoring (6th – 7.46) on-base percentage (.427).
Arizona’s pitching staff is seventh in the country in both ERA (1.57) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.22).
In 12 games, the Wildcats have outscored their Pac-12 opponents 114-11 and have a Pac-12-best 0.71 ERA in league games. Arizona’s 114 runs scored already eclipse its 2018 24-game total of 93 runs scored.
Dating back to last season, Arizona has won seven consecutive Pac-12 series after its four sweeps to open conference play this season.
Arizona has won 28 of its last 31 games, with its only three losses in that span coming to the current No. 2 (Oklahoma) and No. 3 (Florida State) ranked teams in the country by a combined four runs.
The Wildcats are seventh in this week’s NCAA RPI, a metric heavily relied on for NCAA Tournament seeding. UA is No. 8 in the NFCA Top 25.
Through 39 games, Arizona has played 13 games against ranked opponents and has an 8-5 record in those games. All five losses are to top-six opponents. Despite the 1-5 record, in six games vs. (current rankings) No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida State, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Florida, UA has been outscored by just two runs (21-23) and has 11 more hits (40-29).
There is only one team in the country that has more than two players with double digit home runs. It’s Arizona with four players with 10-or-more homers: Jessie Harper (21), DejahMulipola (16), Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza (13) and Malia Martinez (10). UA’s junior class (5 players) have combined for 64 home runs. That total would rank seventh in the country if they were their own team.
Arizona’s offense has been heating up with the weather. Since the calendar turned to March (last 24 games), Arizona has averaged 8.79 runs/game and is hitting 2.17 home runs per game after scoring 5.33 runs and hitting 1.67 homers per game in February (15 games).
Arizona head coach Mike Candrea enters the weekend three wins shy of Michigan’s Carol Hutchins for the most career wins in NCAA softball history. Candrea, who is in his 32nd year of coaching at Arizona, has won 1,595 wins while Hutchins has 1,598 over 36 seasons of coaching. Last weekend, Candrea moved into fifth all-time in NCAA Division I victories among all sports.
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NOTES ON THE LOPES (26-14)
Grand Canyon enters the weekend having swept Cal State Bakersfield last weekend and has won 14 of its last 15 overall.
Earlier this season, GCU became the first team to defeat then top-ranked Florida State in the first game of March 6 doubleheader. Later, the Lopes took on then No. 3 Oklahoma in Norman and fell just 1-0.
GCU hits .293 as a team, led by the Smith sisters, Shea (.400) and Sierra (.328).
The four-headed pitching staff carries a 2.26 ERA, led by Yessie Morrison (8-4, 1.89 ERA).
ARIZONA vs. GRAND CANYON
Arizona is 7-0 all-time against the Lopes, with all seven games coming at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Arizona has outscored Grand Canyon 47-2 in the seven games with six of the wins coming via the shutout.
Arizona swept GCU last year in a three-game series at Hillenbrand and did not allow a run in the three games.
Courtesy of Arizona Communication Services
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