Arizona's up-and-down season has continued into its final home stand, but the Wildcats (19-22, 7-14 Pac-12) are coming off a weekend that featured the team's best win of the season. UA was able to snag a win from league-leading Stanford Friday night on the road and now return home hoping to keep some of that momentum heading into the next couple weeks as it wraps up the remaining home schedule.
The Wildcats will get a break from conference play Tuesday night when they host New Mexico State (30-11, 13-5 WAC) for the second time this season. Earlier in the year UA took down the Aggies 14-10 at Hi Corbett Field.
Last Tuesday UA had a loss against GCU that brought some strong words from head coach Jay Johnson and his team responded with a win over one of the top teams in the country. This week UA will try to avoid that same letdown when it faces the Aggies with usual Saturday night starter Quinn Flanagan taking the mound for the 'Cats.
Flanagan was used Friday night in relief as Johnson didn't leave anything to chance in his team's 6-3 victory over Stanford.
The postseason is all but out of play for UA at this stage, but there is certainly a desire to finish the season on a positive note. The Wildcats' schedule gets a bit less challenging from this point on with each of UA's remaining Pac-12 opponents all having losing conference records at this point.
Oregon (23-19, 8-10) is in town this weekend meaning some improved play from Arizona could help lead to another winning streak.
While pitching has been the thorn in Arizona's side all season long, its offense has continued to produce and there might not be anyone better at the plate right now than catcher and first baseman Matthew Dyer. The sophomore, who was previously at Oregon, is currently hitting .399 on the season and is in the midst of an 18-game hitting streak. It is the longest hitting streak a player has had during Johnson's time at UA.
It is tied for the fifth-longest streak for an Arizona player since 1998. During the 18-game hitting streak Dyer has 11 multi-hit games to go with 12 extra base hits overall including eight doubles and a couple home runs.
The Glendale, Arizona native has been as consistent of a player as Arizona has this season and he is having some of his best plate appearances of the season as of late.
Junior third baseman Nick Quintana is another player hitting his stride at this point in the year at the plate for UA. The Las Vegas native hit a home run Friday night to give him 10 on the season marking the first back-to-back 10-home run season since 2007-08 for a UA player. He now has 30 home runs over the course of his UA career which is good enough to tie him for 10th on the program's all-time list.
Both Quintana and Dyer are two players Johnson wants his younger guys to look up to as the team finishes out this season.
"He's one of only a couple players that I would point to and say, 'I hope that our young players are looking at him,'" Johnson said of Quintana. "If you want to model somebody on the team, he's the model. Matt Dyer comes to mind as well in regards to that."
First pitch for Arizona's game against New Mexico State Tuesday night is set for 6 p.m. at Hi Corbett Field. It will be the first game of an extended stay at home for UA as the Wildcats will not be on the road again until May 16 when the travel to Penn State.
