PALO ALTO, Calif. -- After seven straight home games, the Arizona Wildcats traveled north to Stanford for a three-game set with the Cardinal. 

Arizona led for much of the game Thursday night, but faltered late and dropped a one-run affair to the Cardinal, 3-2. Cameron Ming turned in a strong starting pitching performance, going 6-plus innings and allowing two earned runs, but the Cats couldn't score late after giving up the lead in the seventh. 

The Cardinal topped the Wildcats again Friday in another one-run contest, scoring a run in the seventh inning to pull ahead for good.

The Cats will look to salvage a game in the series Saturday afternoon.

Date/Time (MST)                             Location (Ballpark)                            Starters/Result
Thu., April 27 6 p.m.                        Palo Alto, Calif. (Sunken Diamond)       Stanford 3, Arizona 2
Fri., April 28   7 p.m.                        Palo Alto, Calif. (Sunken Diamond)       Stanford 4, Arizona 3
Sat., April 29  2 p.m.                        Palo Alto, Calif. (Sunken Diamond)       LHP Chris Castellanos vs. TBA
 
 
TV: Thursday and Friday's games will be televised on Pac-12 Network. Roxy Bernstein (PBP) and J.T. Snow (analyst) on the call.
Radio: All three games will be on 1290-AM KCUB and through TuneIn.
Live Stats: Live stats will be available through SideArmStats.com
 
All-time series: Stanford leads 106-76                           First meeting: The two teams met for the first time in 1923;  Last meeting: Arizona took two of three from Stanford last season


Some series themes: Arizona visits Stanford's Sunken Diamond for the first time since collecting a three-game sweep over the Cardinal in 2015…The Cats took the series last year as well, winning two of three in Tucson…Fast forwarding to this year, Stanford enters the series coming off a road sweep at Oregon and an 8-2 win over Santa Clara in the midweek…Arizona was swept by Utah last weekend at home, but rebounded with a win Tuesday night over New Mexico State…Arizona left-hander Cameron Ming will start Thursday's game, after a strong start last weekend against the Utes…Ming worked six innings, allowing just one run in his first extended start of the season…The junior opened the year as the closer, but was moved into the rotation and seemed to thrive with the move…After Ming on Thursday, the Cats are undecided what the rest of the rotation will look like…Stanford, meanwhile, will counter with a trio of left-handers this weekend…Ming had the best outing of his career last year against the Cardinal, tossing seven shutout innings…Following their series against Stanford, Arizona will have an off day in the Bay Area on Sunday, before playing at Santa Clara on Monday afternoon…The Cats will then return home to host Washington for a three-game series…Arizona's Nick Quintana has reached base in 28 straight games, which is the longest streak by an Arizona freshman since Jason Donald reached base in 30 straight in 2004…The freshman is hitting .389 with runners in scoring position and .390 with two outs…JJ Matijevic and Alfonso Rivas lead the Wildcats, batting .419 with runners in scoring position…As a team, the Cats are batting .350 with runners in scoring position, while opposing teams are at a .275 clip…Jared Oliva leads the club with 19 two-out RBI…Oliva also leads the team with 11 multi-RBI games this season.
 
All the runs: Arizona enters the weekend series with Stanford third in the nation in scoring (8.6 runs per game) and 11th in runs scored (336). Through 39 games, Arizona has put up more runs scored than any season since 2005, long before the introduction of BBCOR bats to college baseball. In 2003, Arizona got off to a 27-12 start and scored 373 runs through 39 games. Two years later, in 2005, Arizona started 27-12 and scored 338 runs. Not since then has Arizona put up as many runs in its first 39. Only two other times in that span, 2010 and 2009, did the Cats even reach the 300-run mark. Arizona has already scored more than 100 runs more than its 2014 38-game total of 216. Not only does Arizona leads the conference in runs with its 325, and has more than 100 runs more than the next closest team, which is Utah at 235 runs.
 
Most runs by an Arizona team through 39 games since 2003
Year       Runs      Record
2003       373         26-13
2005       338         27-12
2017       336         27-12
2010       315         28-11
2009       301         19-20
 
Pac-12's Best: Arizona enters the series versus Stanford leading the conference in every major offensive category, minus home runs and triples. The Cats lead the league in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, doubles, total bases and walks. The Cats are the only team in the league with a batting average better than .300 at .323. The next closest team is Utah at .298. The Cats are also the only team in the league with an on-base percentage better than .400 at .417. The next closest is Utah at .389. Arizona has scored 336 runs through 39 games, which is 101 more runs than the next closest in the conference. Perhaps even more impressive, the Cats have done all their offensive damage while striking out the fewest times in the league at 217. Arizona also possesses the individual leader in batting average (JJ Matijevic, .406), slugging percentage (JJ Matijevic, .656), on-base percentage (Alfonso Rivas, .503), runs (JJ Matijevic, 43), hits (Matijevic, 65), RBI (Matijevic, 44), doubles (Matijevic, 22) and total bases (Matijevic, 105).
 
Pac-12 leaders in Batting Average:
1. Arizona .324
2. Utah .298
3. California .289
 
Pac-12 leaders in Slugging Percentage:
1. Arizona .470
2. California .430
3. Utah .414
 
Pac-12 leaders in On-Base Percentage:
1. Arizona .418
2. Utah .389
3. Washington State .373
 
Pac-12 leaders in runs scored
1. Arizona 336
2. Utah 235
3. California 206
 
Pac-12 leaders in RBI
1. Arizona 292
2. Utah 210
3. California 192
 
Pac-12 leaders in doubles
1. Arizona 98
2. Washington State 79
3. Stanford 74
 
Pac-12 leaders in walks:
1. Arizona 189
2. Washington State 169
3. Oregon 159
3. Utah 159
 
Fewest Strikeouts in Pac-12:
1. Arizona 217
2. Oregon State 221
3. Oregon 222
 
What about nationally?: At 8.6 runs per game, Arizona is third in the nation in scoring. At 336 runs, Arizona is 11th in the country and third among Power 5 Conference schools. The Wildcats are seventh in the country in on-base percentage at .417, which is the second-highest mark among Power Five teams. Arizona also is third in doubles per game at 2.51 and sixth in doubles overall with 98, which is second among Power Five teams.
 
Matijevic the Masher: Thirty-nine games into his junior campaign, JJ Matijevic has blossomed into one of the top hitters in the country. Matijevic enters the Stanford series with a .406 batting average, a .656 slugging percentage and is getting on base 44 percent of the time. The junior from North Huntingdon, Pa., is leading the nation in doubles with 22 and is eighth in the nation in batting average. More than midway through the conference season, Matijevic is giving the Triple Crown a run in the Pac-12. He currently leads the league in average, is tied for the RBI lead with Cal's Andrew Vaughn and is third in home runs. Matijevic was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on April 10 after a remarkable four-game performance against Arizona State and Washington State that featured three home runs and four doubles for the week. He then went 10-for-17 against Oregon, but was passed over for Player of the Week.
 
National Leaders in Doubles: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 22
2. Brent Rooker, Mississippi State, 21
3. Cutter McDowell, Lamar, 20
3. Tyler Zabonjnik, Air Force, 20
3. Ryan Flick, Tennessee Tech, 20
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Hits: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 65
2. Andrew Vaughn, California, 57
2. DaShawn Kerisey Jr., Utah, 57
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Total Bases 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 105
2. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 96
3. Dallas Carroll, Utah, 89
4. Gage Canning, Arizona State, 87
4. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 87
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Slugging Percentage: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, .656
2. Dallas Carroll, Utah, .631
3. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, .615
 
Pac-12 Leaders in RBI: 
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona, 44
1. Andrew Vaughn, Cal, 44
3. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 42
4. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 41
 
He Went to Jared: Now a junior, Jared Oliva has wasted no time taking center stage for the Wildcats as an upperclassman. Oliva, who was named to Perfect Game's Midseason First-Team All-American squad earlier this season, is hitting .338 on the season with 24 extra-base hits. He has 18 doubles on the year after having just four all of last year. The junior from Saugus, California also has four home runs and is second on the team and third in the league in RBI with 42. He's slugging .554 and is getting on base at a .408 clip. He's also been successful in nine of 11 stolen base attempts. In the series finale against McNeese State, Oliva went 3 for 5 with two doubles, a home run and tied his career high with five RBI. His home run was a three-run shot and his two doubles both came in the seventh inning, allowing Arizona to pull away and earn the sweep. His best game in the Frisco Classic came in the middle game against Oklahoma State. Oliva was 2 for 5 with a pair of runs scored. He was 1 for 3 with an RBI double in the tournament opener against Arkansas. Against Hartford, Oliva had 11 RBI in the series and a career-high six RBI in the series finale. Oliva hit his first career grand slam in the 17-13 win over the Hawks and also had a two-run single. Oliva went 4 for 12 with five runs scored and six RBI in his first conference series of the season at UCLA.  In his second conference series of the season, Oliva homered against Oregon State in the series opener. Through 39 games, Oliva has already surpassed or tied career highs in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks.
 
Pac-12 Leaders in Runs Scored:
1. JJ Matijevic, Arizona 43
2. Jared Oliva, Arizona, 42
2. Cal Stevenson, Arizona, 42
4. Mitchell Morimoto, Arizona, 40
4. Alfonso Rivas, Arizona, 40
 
Quintana's Quick Start: It hasn't taken fabolous freshman Nick Quintana much time to adjust to college baseball. The Nevada Gatorade State Player of the Year last year, Quintana has started all 39 games for Arizona so far this season. He's batting .354, with 14 doubles, five home runs and 34 RBI. He's slugging .559 and has an on base percentage of .446. Quintana enters the Stanford series having reached base safely in 28 straight games. That's the longest streak by an Arizona freshman since Jason Donald reached base in 30 straight in 2004. Quintana's five home runs are the most by an Arizona freshman since current big leaguer Joey Rickard hit eight in 2010 in the pre-BBCOR era. Quintana has 11 multiple-hit games this year and nine multi-RBI games. He had five RBI over the past two Oregon games, knocking in two in the Friday win and then three more in Saturday's win, which he hit his fifth home run of the season. Quintana went 1 for 3 in his debut for a .333 average. That's the lowest his average has been all season.