THE SERIES:
No. 19 Arizona opens its fourth season under head coach Jerry Stitt with a three-game home series against St. Mary's. The Cats start the year with 14 straight home games, covering 24 days. Arizona returns seven starters from last season's squad which returned to postseason play for the first time since 1993. Three Wildcats have earned preseason All-America honors.

WILDCAT NOTES:
Arizona head coach Jerry Stitt is just two wins shy of the 100th of his three-year career ... The Cats are 3-0 in season-openers under Stitt and have averaged 16.0 runs per game in those contests. UA has won six consecutive opening contests overall ... Arizona is 2-1 in home openers during the Stitt era ... Sunday's game will be the Cats' 1,200th at Sancet Field ... Arizona is 132-5 (.964) dating back to 1993 in games it led after eight innings and 226-9 (.962) going back to 1990.

PRESEASON HONORS:
Three Wildcats have earned a total of five preseason All-America honors. Sophomore right-hander Ben Diggins was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America. Sophomore right fielder Shelley Duncan earned second-team honors from BA and third-team recognition from Collegiate Baseball. Both Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named junior shortstop Keoni DeRenne a second-team preseason All-American.

BEST TOOLS:
Baseball America has announced its list of "Best Tools" in the Pac-10, and three Wildcats were recognized. Junior Keoni DeRenne was named the league's top defensive shortstop. Senior center fielder Troy Gingrich was named the Pac-10's fastest base runner. And sophomore right-hander Ben Diggins has the best fastball in the conference, according to BA.

TEAM USA '99:
Junior Keoni DeRenne and sophomores Ben Diggins and Shelley Duncan were all part of the 1999 USA Baseball national squad that posted a 24-15 overall mark.

DeRenne was the team's starting shortstop and hit .376 with a remarkable .506 on-base percentage. He drew 32 walks while striking out just 12 times. Diggins served as the team's closer, posting a 2.05 earned-run average in a team-high 16 appearances. He allowed just 10 base hits in 22.0 innings under Arizona pitching coach Bill Kinneberg, who filled the same capacity for Team USA. Duncan saw limited action before joining the Jayhawk League.

KNST-RADIO:
KNST, AM-790, will carry 30 regular season games this season, including each Pac-10 contest, plus all postseason action. The station has served as UA's flagship station for 19 years. Sports director Brian Jeffries and Ryan Radtke will handle the play-by-play duties. Unfortunately, the network will be without the services of Eric Thomae, former announcer of Wildcat baseball as well as co-host of KNST's popular "Driving Home Show with Eric and John (brought to you by Propecia)." Unfortunate, that is, for the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders who were swindled into hiring Thomae as director of field maintenance and quality footware.

DRAFTED CATS:
Fourteen current Arizona players have been chosen a total of 17 times in the Major League Baseball Draft. Mike Meyer, Trevor Mote and Rob Shabansky have been selected twice. Here's a complete list of players drafted:

Player         Year    Club          Round
Rob Shabansky     1995    Royals        68th
Tony Milo         1996    Mets          7th
Sam Shelton       1996    Dodgers       68th
Mike Meyer        1996    Dodgers       69th
Kevin Huff        1996    Dodgers       71st
Peter Fredericks  1997    Astros        10th
Ryan O'Donnell    1997    Padres        32nd
Trevor Mote       1997    Twins         32nd
Ben Diggins       1998    Cardinals     1st*
Trevor Mote       1998    Royals        30th
Rob Shabansky     1998    Red Sox       39th
Ernie Durazo      1998    Mariners      46th
Kenny Huff        1998    Blue Jays     47th
Mike Meyer        1999    Giants        14th
Matt Abram        1999    Diamondbacks  10th
Ken Riley         1999    Marlins       31st
Klent Corley      1999    Angels        48th
*---Sandwich Pick

SANCET FIELD:
Frank Sancet Field is in its 34th season as the home park of Arizona baseball. The Cats have an 840-354-3 (.703) all-time mark at Sancet Field. UA has had just three losing records at Sancet. Arizona was 20-11 at home last year. Sunday's game with St. Mary's will be the Cats' 1,200 at Sancet.

The spacious park is 360 feet down the foul lines, 380 to the power alleys and 400 to center field. A 12-foot fence comes in to left and right center before giving way to a six-foot fence across the center field area. New chair-back seats were installed last season behind home plate.

HEAD COACH JERRY STITT:
In just three seasons as head coach, Jerry Stitt has put Arizona baseball on the verge of returning to the national elite. After three straight last-place finishes in the Pac-10 South, Stitt has led the Cats to back-to-back-to-back winning seasons and a return to postseason play thanks to improved pitching and defense and, under his direct tutelage, the continued success of Wildcat hitters.

Arizona qualified for an NCAA regional last year for the first time since 1993. The year before, the Cats ranked among the nation's leaders in doubles, triples, homers, runs scored and slugging percentage while reaching as high as No. 2 in one national poll.

Stitt has posted an 98-70 (.583) mark in his three seasons at the helm of the Cats. He follows J.F. "Pop" McKale, Frank Sancet and Jerry Kindall as the only head coaches since 1922 and is only the 14th coach in the 93-year history of Arizona baseball.

Stitt was an All-American at UA in 1968 as a senior and was drafted in the 32nd round by the Cleveland Indians. He played three years in the Tribe organization before moving to coaching.He joined the Cats' coaching staff in 1978 and had been its associate head coach since 1992.

RED-SHIRTS/INJURIES:
Senior right-hander Dave Abbott will red-shirt the season following Tommy John surgery last April 20. He plans to return for the 2001 campaign.

Junior right-hander Sam Shelton will miss the season as well. Junior right-hander Ben Vigeland will red-shirt the year. Senior left-hander Rob Shabansky is recovering from Tommy John surgery last Feb. 18 and is expected to return by mid-March.

EARLY SIGNEES:
Collegiate Baseball preseason All-Americans Moises Duran and Jake Whitesides lead a deep and talented group of 13 high school and junior college players who have inked letters of intent during the early signing period to attend Arizona and play baseball beginning in the fall of 2000. Eleven high school seniors and two junior college sophomores comprise the group, which includes nine pitchers.

"This is as strong a recruiting class as we have had," Jerry Stitt, who is entering his fourth year as Arizona's head coach, said. "It rivals the first class we signed in 1997, which was ranked fourth in the nation.

"Our first need in the near future is pitching, and we met that need with a great group of young arms. Brian Anderson is the top pitching prospect in Tucson. Plus, the addition of Moises Duran, Stephen Hunt, Ryan Richardson and Jake Whitesides solidify positions that were in need of filling.

"Duran is beyond question the best player in Tucson. He has tremendous bat speed. Whitesides is one of the best prospects to sign with this program in a long time. He's a tremendous high school player, and he'll make a tremendous college player. This is a great class."

Richardson is the younger brother of former Wildcat pitcher Jim Richardson (1988-89). Right-hander Sean Rierson was a member of the Chapparal HS that finished the year ranked 20th in Collegiate Baseball's national poll last season and was listed among that publication's list of high school underclassmen to watch.

ZASA SHINES:
Sophomore public address announcer Jimmy Zasa returns for his third season as "The Voice of the Wildcats." A favorite of fans and players alike, Zasa is best known for his familiar call "Home Run Sheeelleeey Dunnncannn." Zasa's enthusiasm and exuberance always brings out the excitement in Wildcat fans everywhere. Bear Down!

ALUMNI GAME:
The 2000 Bank One All-Pro Alumni Game is scheduled for Feb. 6 at Sancet Field. More than a dozen major league players and coaches will be among the professional roster of alumni that will face the current Arizona squad in a seven-inning exhibition. The 1 p.m. game will be preceded by a home run contest and an autograph session.

Bank One continued its support of Arizona athletics by becoming the title sponsor of the All-Pro Alumni Game in 1996. Proceeds from the game go to the Arizona baseball program and is the program's most important fundraising event of the year. The Alumni lead the all-time series, 10-3-2. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Curt Schilling will serve as the guest manager for the Alumni team this season.

Reserved tickets are available for $7, while all other seats are $5.

ARIZONA VS. ST. MARY'S:
Arizona is 3-2 vs. St. Mary's having dropped two games in 1995, then sweeping three contests last season. All five games were played in Tucson.

LAST YEAR vs. ST. MARY'S
Date    W/L  Score   WP        LP        Save
1/22    W    19-6    Abbott    Siegel    Zlotoff
1/23    W    7-2     Pearce    Bye       Crawford
1/24    W    9-0     Diggins   M.-Voyee  None

PITCHING PROBABLES vs. ST. MARY'S

Friday (3 p.m.)
RHP Jason Morgan-Voyce (6-7, 4.38) vs. RHP Ben Diggins (8-6, 6.95)
Saturday (1 p.m.)
LHP Mike Byer (1-7, 5.21) vs. RHP Mike Crawford (5-5, 6.06)
Sunday (1 p.m.)
RHP Evan Rust (6-6, 3.67) vs. LHP Brian Pemble (2-1, 6.32)

Probable Wildcat Lineup
    No.  Pos.  Player                Class   Ht.     Wt.
1.  2    CF    Troy Gingrich (L)     Sr.     5-10    180
2.  25   2B    Trevor Mote (B)       Jr.     6-1     185
3.  11   SS    Keoni DeRenne (B)     Jr.     5-7     146
4.  18   RF    Shelley Duncan        So.     6-5     210
5.  22   LF    Kenny Huff (L)        So.     6-0     197
6.  44   1B    Ernie Durazo (L)      Jr.     5-9     195
7.  17   3B    Erik Torres           Jr.     5-10    168
8.  33   DH    Ryan O'Donnell (L)    Jr.     6-0     180     
9.  26   C     Chris Cunningham (L)  So.     6-1     190