While baseball fans from all over wait for the end of the long-running Major League Baseball lockout, college baseball fans in Tucson can rejoice as the Arizona baseball team has opened up its 2022 season and will hold its home opener Tuesday night against Grand Canyon University.

With the Wildcats coming off a season in which they made an appearance in the College World Series, Arizona is ranked No. 11 in the latest D1Baseball poll after three wins at the College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas over the weekend.

UA’s trip to Omaha last season was the team’s first CWS appearance since 2016, but the Wildcats were eliminated in two games after losing to Vanderbilt and Stanford, respectively.

Arizona’s 2022 team looks very much the same on the field, yet there are a few key differences with this year’s group. While most of the same starters are returning, including catcher Daniel Susac, infielders Tony Bullard and Nik McClaughry and outfielder Tyler Casagrande, the Wildcats will have a whole new coaching staff as former MLB manager and Arizona alum Chip Hale replaces Jay Johnson as head coach after Johnson’s departure for LSU in the offseason.

While Arizona looks to make another CWS run in 2022, here are some questions facing this year’s squad.

With Hale taking the reins as head coach, his staff of assistant coaches will look a little different as well. Hale retained longtime team assistant coach Dave Lawn, who is now in his seventh season with the program.

However, new additions to the staff include former South Carolina assistant coach Trip Couch and former Sacramento State volunteer assistant Toby DeMello. This season will see Hale adjust from the pro game to the college level.

“Baseball is baseball once we get out there,” Hale said of the adjustment from coaching professional baseball to college baseball. "The administrative part of it, a lot more talking to alumni which has been kind of a fun thing for me because I love this university and we have a great program with a rich history, so it’s been nice to reconnect with a lot of people… not so much of an adjustment more so fun for me.”

Lawn will return as the pitching coach for the team while also becoming the associate head coach. Couch will serve as the recruiting coordinator and an on-field assistant.

Arizona will enter this season with a relatively young pitching staff consisting of a lot of underclassmen. With pitchers such as TJ Nichols and Dawson Netz returning from last year as well, the Wildcats have a deep staff heading into the 2022 season. Even with the staff going through preseason growing pains, Hale seems confident about his group heading into the season.

“When the pitchers face our hitters, what we’ve noticed is I think we walk more guys than we will when we face outside competition. Our guys have seen these pitchers so much and there is a fear factor in there with some of our big boys,” Hale said.

“We don’t have the pitching rotation figured out yet. We’re gonna piggyback some guys in Texas just cause they’re not built up enough to throw 100 pitches yet so between TJ Nichols and Garrett Irvin, Anthony Susac. Those guys will kind of piggyback.”

Nichols earned the opening-day start last week and pitched four innings for the Wildcats. He surrendered five hits and one run with six strikeouts during his time on the mound against Kansas State.

Nichols, who led the staff in the postseason last year, struggled at times as a member of the starting rotation posting a 6.83 ERA. He had more success when was moved to the bullpen in May when he posted a 1.54 ERA.

Irvin, a senior left-handed pitcher returns after coming off a 2021 season in which he was named Tucson NCAA Regional MVP as well as being named to the Tucson NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team.

With the team having 13 games in the first 20 days of the season, Arizona will look to get in as many arms as possible to see what they have before they get to conference play.

“The difference between when I played here and now is we only have three weeks until we start conference play,” Hale said. “So, we have to have a pretty good idea going into it who our starters and relievers are going to be.”

At this early point in the season, it is crucial for the Wildcats to evaluate everything they have on their pitching staff so they can go into the heart of the season knowing what they have in terms of arms.

Netz was the big story on the mound for UA in the opening weekend as he earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after his performance against then-No. 14 Texas Tech on Sunday. The sophomore pitched five innings in the 13-2 win over the Red Raiders and finished without allowing a run on three hits to go with six strikeouts.

The Wildcats will again boast good offense going into their game against GCU returning many of their starters from last season’s squad. With the likes of Casagrande, Daniel Susac, McClaughry, Chase Davis and Noah Turley in the lineup, the Wildcats will have some power in their lineup. McClaughry takes over this season as the full time shortstop.

“I think the biggest change was the mentality,” catcher Susac said of McClaughry becoming the starting shortstop. “I think the energy he brings to the lineup and the field everyday really just sparks the whole team.”

Since coming to Arizona, McClaughry has developed his game as a hitter becoming one of the team’s most reliable players at the plate by the end of the 2021 season.

“I think just improving my strength in the weight room helped and then just a couple adjustments I made to help see the ball better,” McClaughry said about his improvements as a hitter.

As a team, the Wildcats boasted a .325 batting average and a .930 OPS. Both of those stats are elite for college baseball and hitting was again a big strength for the Wildcats last year.

Davis was used mostly as a reserve in 27 games last season with one start, but he has emerged as a potential star for the Wildcats.

During the meet-the-team scrimmage on Feb. 12, Davis belted three home runs in all three of his at-bats. Last season, Davis only hit .233 in his limited role, but this season he looks to compete for a starting spot in the outfield.

“You never know what the situation is until you actually see it unfold in front of your eyes. I had to adapt and adapt quickly so I felt like I did just that and I felt like I handled the situation the best I could,” he said.

Davis went 6 for 13 at the plate during the opening weekend in Texas with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored.

The Wildcats home opener against GCU is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Hi Corbett Field, Tuesday night. It will open a 10-game stretch at home for Arizona, which will not be leave home again until the start of Pac-12 play against Cal on March 11.

UA has won 18 consecutive home openers with the last loss coming to BYU in the 2003 season.

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