A year ago Arizona played a challenging pre-conference schedule but struggled against it, sitting below .500 at the start of Pac-12 play. It was another tough slate to start 2025, with six games against ACC and SEC opponents including four that were ranked.
And the results have been much better. The Wildcats are 12-4, winning 12 of 13 since an 0-3 start, and take a 9-0 home record into its first Big 12 Conference series against Cincinnati at Hi Corbett Field.
“I think the guys are ready,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “That’s the whole point of the preseason. My theory is, I want my players to be ready for this portion of the schedule. I think we’re ready to go.”
Cincinnati (11-6) is one of five Big 12 opponents the Wildcats will host, along with Baylor (March 28-30), Oklahoma State (April 11-13), TCU (May 2-4) and Utah (May 9-11). Their road series are at West Virginia (March 21-23), ASU (April 4-6), BYU (April 17-19), Texas Tech (Sept. 25-27) and Houston (May 15-17).
Other than ASU and Utah, Arizona has played a combined 102 games against the other eight. Cincinnati is a completely new opponent, never before on the UA’s schedule.
“It’s going to be a completely new situation,” Hale said.
Here’s what to watch for when the Wildcats and Bearcats battle this weekend:
By the numbers
Arizona is hitting .303 for the season, which ranks fifth among the Big 12’s 14 baseball-playing schools. The 4.30 ERA is ninth but has been on a steady downward trajectory since allowing 31 runs in the first three games, holding the last eight opponents to five or fewer runs including just 10 during the five wins on this homestand.
Cincinnati is seventh in hitting (.299) and also leads the Big 12 in stolen bases (46) and strikeouts (174). It’s also seventh in ERA (4.00) and strikes out 10.35 batters per nine innings.
“They’re a little different than we’re used to seeing,” Hale said of Cincinnati. “They’ll do a lot of bunting, they’ll run a lot. They put a lot of pressure on you, kind of like (San diego) did. That’s why we try to play different teams in the preseason, too, because we’re going to get some teams like this in this league.”
Two Cincinnati players are hitting .400 or better, led by sophomore catcher Jack Natili at .410. Sophomore right-hander Nathan Taylor leads the conference with 35 strikeouts, holding a 1.50 ERA over 24 innings, but his availability for this weekend is up in the air as the Bearcats are dealing with team-wide illness that has kept them from announcing the weekend rotation.
Arizona will be going with the same three starters as over the first four weeks. Righty Collin McKinney (0-1, 1.04) will go Friday night, righty Owen Kramkowski (2-1, 6.23) on Saturday night and righty Smith Bailey (0-1, 2.25) on Sunday morning.
Baserunning blues
In Tuesday’s 3-2 win over ASU, Arizona had two runners thrown out on the basepaths. One was a contact play, with Tommy Splaine trying to score from 3rd base on a grounder, but the other saw Maddox Mihalakis caught trying to go from 2nd to 3rd on a grounder to the left side.
“That’s probably been probably the worst thing we’ve done all year,” Hale said. “We’ll try not to make as many outs on the basis as we have.”
It hasn’t just been on balls in play. Arizona is only 9 of 17 on stolen base attempts and has had multiple runners picked off 1st base. The main culprit has been Brendan Summerhill, who is 4 of 9 on steal attempts.
“The baserunning hasn’t been what I wanted it to be,” said Summerhill, who is batting .369 as Arizona’s leadoff man. “I’ve hit well, played defense well. I think it’s just been pitchers have been really tough to run on. They throw pitches they can throw me out on. It’s been pretty unlucky, honestly. We’ve got some big games coming up, so it’s going to be important not to make outs on the bases.”
Hale said Summerhill had a “green light” during the preseason but now will be given a steal sign when the coaching staff thinks it’s a good time to run.
“That’s our job to get him better, but we’re going to have to pick better pitches to run on,” Hale said. “Most of teams we’ve played this preseason have been very quick to the plates. Cincinnati does a good job of that, too.”
Kramkowski’s climb from rough freshman year
With a 6.23 ERA, Kramkowski has been Arizona’s “worst” starting pitcher but much of that damage came in his first career start when he allowed seven runs on eight hits in 0.2 innings against Clemson. Since then his ERA is 2.70 over the last three starts, and while he’s still giving up some hits he’s yet to walk a batter in 17.1 innings.
That he didn’t walk anyone during that horrible first outing contributed to being able to move on from it so quickly, because as a freshman he walked five in 1.1 innings of work.
“I think that first outing was obviously easiest for me to get over just because I was able to understand it’s going to happen,” he said. “And the quicker I can get over it, the quicker I can use it to my advantage. So the quicker I was able to not emotionally attached myself to it, I think I was able to assess it, and it’s done a lot for me.”
A native of Sahuarita, Kramkowski missed large chunks of his junior and senior high school seasons because of injury but was very impressive during fall ball in 2023. That made his struggles in 2024—a 13.50 ERA in three appearances—very disappointing.
“He didn’t get regular opportunities to pitch, and when he did, it wasn’t good so you’re gonna get less,” Hale said. “That’s a bad thing about college.”
Again, Kramkowski considers himself better off for having experienced that.
“I think there’s a reason I came here,” he said. “I know freshman year, it’s not gonna be ideal all the time. It’s going to be rough. It’s almost great that it happens, you get beat up your freshman year. It’s a learning experience, and that’s all you can really use it as, because it’s going to happen. It’s already happened.”
Injury update
Sophomore left fielder Easton Breyfogle came out of the ASU game after running out a ground ball, and on Thursday Hale said Breyfogle had suffered a quad injury. He missed time in 2024 with a hamstring injury.
Hale said he’s unsure if Breyfogle will be able to play this weekend, with a more likely goal the first Big 12 road series at West Virginia. If he can’t then sophomore TJ Adams will take his place.
Adams is 1 for 9 this season, getting one start and appearing in seven games. Last year he hit .357 in 21 games before suffering a shoulder injury.
“It was hard to get him at-bats,” Hale said. “He’s earned them. He’ll get his opportunity this weekend.”