Wildcats have their hittin' shoes on

The Arizona Wildcats bats are hot.

The Wildcats will carry a .331 team batting average into their next Pac-12 Conference series with the UCLA Bruins, set for April 13-15 at Hi Corbett Field. Alex Mejia leads the way with an impressive .380 average. Teammates Robert Refsynder and Seth Mejias-Breen are right on his heals, batting .376 and .368, respectively.

A good rule of thumb: If you have a team that can stay above the .300 mark chances are you will win a lot of ball games. I'd say .331 is very good with 32 games in the books. If the 'Cats are still above .300 after say 64 games, I'd say we have ourselves a winner.

Arizona in sole possession of first place in Pac-12 race

Despite a couple of losses in Utah this week -- one  to Utah Valley in Orem on Wednesday and the other in Game 2 of a three-game series over the weekend at Utah  in Salt Lake City, the 4th-ranked  Arizona Wildcats return home in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 Conference standings.

Oregon lost to UCLA today and fall to 8-4 in conference play, while the Wildcats with their two wins at Utah -- including a 11-7 win in the series finale today, improve to 9-3 as they head back to Hi Corbett Field, on April 13-15, for a three-game series with the Bruins, who now share second place with Oregon.

The Wildcats improve to 23-9 on the season.

Blackbirds fall to Red Sox in MSBL opener

38-and-over Tucson MSBL

The Mountain Red Sox hitters had their share of dingers and opposite field hits last night at Reid Park and held off the Mountain Blackbirds to win the Tucson MSBL opener, 11-6. The Blackbirds jumped out to an early lead, but the Red Sox came back with key hits in the middle innings and escaped with a victory. The Blackbirds loaded the bases in the top of the eighth inning, but were able to score just one run.

Sean Flynn (3 for 4 and four runs batted in) and Tom Bolen (2 for 3 and a walk) led the Blackbirds offensively, combining for five of the Blackbirds' 12 hits. Hector Iglecias collected three singles in four trips to the plate, while Mike Price legged out two infield hits, but it wasn't quite enough as the Blackbirds are now 0-1, heading into next week's clash with the Phillies.

Price watch: As for the old timer, I went 0-4 and  scored a run. I was also spiked in the second inning and got a nasty cut or two on my right leg and re-injured a nagging, fractured bone spur in my right heel. Not exactly the start I was looking for.

My Fantasy Baseball League gets underway this weekend

My first try at Fantasy Baseball begins this weekend. The sit down draft took place last Sunday and it was quite an experience for yours truly. I didn't exactly make all  the right moves at the draft, but I did end up with a few good players, including the Tampa Bay third baseman  Evan Longoria,  Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and two of the top pitchers in the majors, the Yankees' CC Sabathia and Phillies' ace Roy Halladay. The league is called the WBL and stands for Weekend Baseball League as 12  teams will tangle through out the summer for the "bragging rights" that go along with the first place prize money.

Wish me luck! 

March stats are out for TOTS

March turned out to be a good month for yours truly as a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball club. It's been a while since I've led the team in more than one category. I finished in a tie for first in games played (11), at bats (32) and triples (1), while finishing first in hits with 17, just two more  than speedster Dennis Crowley, who ended up with 15 hits, while leading the team in runs-scored with 13 to go along with his .469 batting average.

I finished the month with a .531 batting average, which was fifth overall, behind Lloyd Barzell (.636), Ron Petersen (.571), Bob Daliege (.571) and Pete Peters (.571). Barzell was the team leader in doubles with six, while two players, Dick Ducklow and Ted Davis, tied for the most RBI with 11 apiece. Joe Aparicio and Bob Katz finished in a tie for the most walks with six, while Doc Thompson led the team in sacrif'ice flies with two.

And now it's on to April and more games on the slate for us old timers.

Arizona reaches No . 4

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team is now No. 4 in the country as they took care of business over the weekend with a three-game sweep of the Stanford Cardinal. Congrats, Wildcats. Arizona will take an overall record of  21-7 into this week's action.

The Wildcats, 7-2 in the Pac-12, will take on Utah Valley in a tune-up game on Wednesday, before opening up a three-game conference series at Utah on Thursday. The  next home series  at Hi Corbett Field is scheduled for Apr 13-15 against the UCLA Bruins.

Jayhawks: "We're not in Kansas, anymore!"

I

t's over! We have our NCAA Champion. The Kentucky Wildcats knocked off the Kansas Jayhawks, 67-59, in New Orleans last night to capture the school's eighth national title.

The Jayhawks made a run late in the game, but it wasn't nearly enough as Kentucky held a 41-27 at the end of the first half and rolled to victory behind the 22-point effort from sophomore Doran Lamb.

The Kentucky Wildcats finish with an overall record of 38-2, which is 15 more wins than our own Arizona Wildcats were able to muster.

Congrats, Kentucky.