Photo courtesy of Arizona Wildcat Rugby

TUCSON– The Collegiate Rugby Championships is next weekend in Philadelphia, PA, and the Arizona Wildcats will look to not make the same mistake that they did last year.

In the 2011 Collegiate Rugby Championships, Arizona dominated the field and held Temple, Oklahoma and Texas to a combined score of zero.

“We had an extraordinary day one when we outscored our opponents literally because none of them scored,” Arizona Rugby head coach Dave Sitton said.

However this is a two day event. After scoring a total of 87 points in day one, the Wildcats were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Central Washington 5-0.

“We had one score against us the entire weekend and it was the game that we lost,” Arizona rugby sevens coach Emil Signes said.

“That’s why every coach will tell you that you have to play every game,” Sitton said. “Nothing we did on Saturday had a positive effect on us on Sunday. We have to start over.”

This year the Wildcats come back with added experience and their star player, Peter Tiberio. Tiberio is rugby’s version of “The Natural” having not played the sport until freshman year.

Coach Dave Sitton, also a broadcaster for Fox Sports, compares Tiberio’s work ethic to that of legendary basketball player Micheal Jordan.

“Peter Tiberio is successful because he chooses to work harder than anybody else,” Sitton said. “My good friend Steve Kerr told me about Chicago Bulls practice and he said that when he played in the NBA it was known that when he was a member of the Bulls it was a fact, that Micheal Jordan practiced harder than anybody in the NBA.”

With that kind of work ethic and experience comes leadership. Tiberio will lead a group of experienced Wildcats into the Collegiate Rugby Championships with possibly their best chance to win it all.

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PHOENIX-Times have been tough lately for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After bursting through the game with a strong 7-3 start, the D-backs have went 7-14 since. Two of their top players, Chris Young and Dan Hudson, are out with shoulder injuries.

One of their rivals, the Los Angels Dodgers, reinvigorated with their new “magical” ownership and are one of the best teams in the National League. The National League East currently sport all five teams with playoff potential, making the two wildcard spots an unlikely reality for the Diamondbacks.

But as Arizona skipper Kurt Gibson would say, we should look at the positives rather than the negatives.

“Just look at all the good stuff though” Gibson said, “like Parra. He’s played every game. We were wondering how we were gonna get him at-bats, right? He leads our team in stolen bases. He is aggressive. He gets the best lead that’s part of it. He’s second in runs. He’s hitting over .300, I think, with men in scoring position. He’s playing pretty damn good.” I give that as an example just to the whole team. You can’t start feeling sorry for yourself because we haven’t been successful as we wanna be. There’s a lot of good things out there. We’re not far away. What’s changed, we lost three in a row? That changes anything? No, it doesn’t. It can’t change. For us, that’s one of the ways that you work your way through it. Gotta keep in perspective. We lost six in a row last year, we came out of it and won 17 out of 19. It can happen.”

The great thing about Gibson is that when he really wants to, he can relay the same message to the media as he would to his team.

If they’re going to get back on the right track with their star center fielder on the disabled list, they will need their star right fielder Justin Upton to start hitting again. So far he’s hitting .234 with three home runs, nine RBI and five stolen bases after coming off a season in which he hit over 30 home runs for the first time in his career..

“He knows what he’s doing,” Gibson said “he’s trying to stop it. The key is not to get frustrated with it.”

“You run the risk of trying 10 different things and then you’re back to square one.”

He’s right, in order to get through the tough times they got to see their strengths and continue to utilize it. Using the Parra example that Gibson used, the Diamondbacks steal the second most bases in baseball and score the fifth most runs in the National League. They are also seventh in the National League in on-base percentage with .321 and right now they’re not getting on base.

Here’s another positive, Cody Ransom is having a career year and it’s only been a couple of weeks. 

 In just 13 games the veteran infielder is hitting .317  with a career high four homeruns and 12 RBI.

What’s also baffling is that Ransom is a 36-year-old and is in his 10th Major League season. In fact, the year that Ransom had the most at-bats was in 2009 with the World Series winning New York Yankees when in 79 at-bats he hit .190.

“He’s much more comfortable here, he’s got experience here,” Gibson said. “He’s comfortable around the guys and confident. If you look at his body over the years, he takes care of himself. He’s a very good athlete, actually. People don’t realize that. He’s gotten on a good roll, he’s seeing the ball well and has a good thing going on.”

“He’s got a pretty good makeup. He likes the game as well. He doesn’t let the frustration get to him.

So the point is that even in a tough stretch, the Diamondbacks need to keep their heads up high and push foward.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

PHOENIX —It’s easy to get consumed with emotion when you’re on the field looking at the wondrous ballpark that is Chase Field and know that this is your home field. That’s what A.J. Pollack must have been feeling when he first came into Chase Field as a Major Leaguer and as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Pollack was a first round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2009 draft. The former Fighting Irish started his professional career in South Bend.

Each year he moved up the ranks until he was called up last Tuesday to fill a need in the out field with both Chris Young and Justin Upton injured.

But the transition between professional levels isn’t easy.

Despite developing into a .300 hitter in Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno, Pollock went 0-12 and one RBI five games for the Diamondbacks. He reached base only once due to a walk and was caught stealing shortly after.

Yet despite the early on-field shortcomings, Pollock is not going to let that overshadow what he calls a great experience.

“The experience has been great,” Pollack said. “the guys have very supportive.”

Every player goes through a little stage fright during their major league debut. Pollock is no different. However he said that if you can suppress your feelings and have a cerebral focus in the moment, you’ll be fine.

“It’s all about controlling your emotions and ,” he said, “once you do that it’s the same game.”

Hopefully his adrenalin controlling strategy helps him out later in the season.

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TUCSON, Ariz — Jeff Suppan has pitched in the majors for 16 years for six teams teams starting with the Boston Red Sox in 1995.

He was selected in the 1997 MLB Expansion Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks and was in the inaugural roster in the 1998 season.

He pitched in two World Series as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals and was named the NLCS MVP in 2006 during their championship run.

He has an accomplished and respectable career topped off with a ring. Yet instead of simply retiring, Suppan continues to pitch.

Even after getting cut by the San Francisco Giants a year ago in Spring Training.

“I wanna play for as long as I can,” Suppan said. “I feel like I can still pitch.”

Kino Stadium, home of the the Tucson Padres (San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate), was originally built for the expansion Diamondbacks as their spring training facility and now Suppan has returned to the scene where dream began 14 years ago.

“It’s funny because the last time I was here was in 1998,” Suppan said.

In his season debut, Suppan went three innings with five earned runs and one strikeout. He was bailed out by a very exciting rally that included two four run innings and a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

Suppan has successfully extended his professional baseball career to 20 seasons, which is something he’s proud at and said that the secret to longevity is availability.

“I always wanted to be the guy who was around,” he said. “I had a coach tell me that the best ability is availability. I’m proud of my career and hope to continue it.”

With the Padres luck, Suppan will soon return to the Major Leagues.

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PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers knew what he was getting when they acquired Trevor Cahill from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for reliever Ryan Cook and two minor leaguers.

To this day, Cahill is 41-35 with a 3.85 ERA and 366 strikeouts in 596.1 innings. However his only season with a winning record and an ERA below four was in 2010 when he went 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA. The stats that D-Backs management were looking at was his career totals against the National League.

In 12 starts against the National League Cahill went 7-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 74.1 innings.

Even prior to joining the Diamondbacks, they shared a common enemy. Against the San Francisco Giants, Cahill only gave up four runs in four starts, one run per start.

Cahill said that the difference between the two leagues is that the NL hitters focus more on small ball tactics and have the pitchers bat in the lineup while the AL hitters uses a designated hitter and just go for the long ball. He also said that facing them during the middle of the season helps because by then, everyone has worked off the kinks. The biggest advantage however is the mystery that comes with facing a new hitter.

“I think the pitchers have the advantage over the hitters not seeing you,” he said.

If Trevor Cahill can maintain his current ERA of 1.35, he’ll serve as a second ace for the Diamondbacks.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

PHOENIX – There is absolutely no better day in sports than Opening Day.

Every team, especially the home team, breathes in the fresh air of hope and excitement. The fans partake in the festivities that exude the excitement of the season’s dawn. The individual awards were given out, the jets flew over the ballpark and the even the rival college football coaches threw out the first pitch.

Rich Rodriguez of the University of Arizona and Todd Graham of Arizona State christened Opening Day in Chase Field by simultaneously throwing out the first pitch. Coach Rodriguez said his preparation involved seeing what not to do when on the mound.

“I had my son google the ten worse Opening Day pitches ever,” he said. “I should be able to throw better than Mariah Carey .”

Even with all of the bells and whistles that go with Opening Day, it’s the presence of a rival that really makes the opener special.

Throughout their 15 years of existence, the Diamondbacks formed their rivalries based on divisional power struggles. From 1999-2003 the Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants were locked in a five year struggle for the NL West title. Arizona won three out of five times but when they failed to defend their title, San Francisco was there to take it from them. Seven years later, the rivalry renewed when the Diamondbacks took the division from the Giants and ended their World Series title defense. The Giants enter the 2012 season with a lust for vengeance.

Opening Day featured a battle between Arizona’s Ian Kennedy and San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum. With two of the game’s best pitchers on the mound, it looked like it had the makings of a wild west shootout.

“When you have a matchup like Kennedy and Lincecum, you expect to be a one run game,”   Arizona center fielder Chris Young said.

Both Young and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt took Lincecum deep in the first inning and gave Kennedy a three run lead to work with. He carried that lead for half the game until he lost the lead to a two-run home run by right fielder Melky Cabrera in the fifth inning and an RBI by shortstop Brandon Crawford in the sixth inning.

Then with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Arizona’s third baseman and spark plug Ryan Roberts hits a two run double to retake the lead.

San Francisco tried to tie the game again in the ninth inning but was a run short.

The Diamondbacks won the game and started off the 2012 season the right way.

Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

TUCSON, Ariz — The Los Angels Dodgers made the trip down to Tucson today to take on the Chicago White Sox in a charity game benefiting the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation. Among the players to show up for the Dodgers is former Arizona State Sun Devil Andre Either.

For him, Tucson brought back memories. Born and raised in Phoenix, Ethier didn’t have the Cardinals or the Diamondbacks. For him, it was all about those Sun Devils.

“It’s not just the place where I played,” Ethier said,  “it’s the place where I grew up. I grew up going to ASU athletics. I grew up first and foremost a ASU sports fan beyond anything.”

Either realized his dream by playing for the Sun Devils from 2002-2003 and formed a titanic trio with the likes of Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler. Now after nearly ten years away from the college diamond, Ethier says that he now has a much greater appreciation for the rivalry between Arizona and Arizona State.

“I have much respect of what they do,” Ethier said. “I think I enjoy and understand the rivalry a lot more now that I’m older and see what it is. It’s really something to look forward to in Arizona every year.”

Going into this year’s charity game in Tucson, Andre Ethier has had by far his greatest spring yet. In 12 games, Ethier is batting .429 with two home runs and 10 RBI. This could be a big year for the  29 year-old, but that only matters to him as long as it shows on the standings.

“A big year for me would be this team going out and winning first place and me being a big contributor,” Ethier said. “If I look up and were in first place then obviously I feel like I had a good year.”

While his teammate Matt Kemp shocks the baseball world with his declaration to hit 50 home runs and seal 50 bases this year, Ethier decides to focus more on helping his team return to the playoffs. Even if it means finishing the season with a .250 batting average.

“I’ve been selfish in the past where I feel I’ve gone out and played to do too much stuff for myself rather than contribute to the team,” Ethier said. “I can see now it’s more important sometimes to have the team effort rather than the individual stats.”

The right fielder has only reached the 30 home run and 100 RBI plateau once in his six year major league career. He might reach it once again this year.

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TUCSON, Ariz — Tucson’s many baseball fans got to see pitching prospect Casey Kelly pitch in Kino Stadium for the first time today against the Colorado Rockies’ split squad. After giving up a lead-off walk to center fielder Eric Young Jr, Kelly impressed with three strikeouts in four innings while his team slugged out 11 runs to win 11-6.

Kelly is projected to start the season in Triple-A with the Tucson Padres.

“It’s definitely an upgrade from where I was last year in San Antonio,” said Kelly. “It wouldn’t be a bad place to pitch.”

So far this spring, Kelly is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 10 innings. Kelly said that he’s the kind of pitcher that throws a lot of strikes and get a lot of swings early in the count. He conforms to the hitter’s weakness and can throw a mixture of fastballs and breaking balls.

“Once you learn the hitters better and play teams a couple of times,” Kelly said, “you know what you want to do to a hitter. Sometimes you want to start them off with a curveball and try to keep them guessing and keep them off balance.”

At 6’3″ & 195lbs, Kelly came into Padre camp in the best shape of his life. He said he was always athletic going back to his days as a multi-sport athlete in high school, but he’s benefited from an offseason spent on conditioning and working on his fast twitch muscles.

“In the offseason I worked on being more athletic,” Kelly said, “a lot more conditioning more agility stuff. Did some stuff with my windup, made it a little faster. ”

One thing he learned after giving up that home run in the first at-bat of the game was that the ball travels well in the Pacific Coast League. Working with the pressures of pitching in a hitter’s park like Kino will make Kelly a better pitcher.

“In the PCL you should try to keep the ball down and get more ground balls than fly balls. It makes you throw quality strikes.”

This will likely be Casey Kelly’s only season with the Tucson Padres. The young righty is only a year away or an injury away from reaching the big leagues.

Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

TUCSON, Ariz — Over the last three years, the San Diego Padres have fluctuated between 70 wins and 90 wins. The only constant has been their lack of playoff appearances.

This year may be different for the Padres. They have an abundant amount of underrated talent in multiple areas.

“Were a little bit under the radar right now obviously based on what happened last year,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “There some guys who’ve had good years. Now we gotta have them put it all together.”

The starting rotation is filled with pitchers with earned run averages in the three range. They only exception is newcomer Edinson Volquez, who makes up for that by being a high strikeout pitcher.

They lost their top reliever Heath Bell to free agency, but seemed to have kept the rich tradition of Padre closers alive by acquiring Houston Street. Last season with the Colorado Rockies, Street saved 29 games and struck out 55 batters in 58.1 innings.

The man responsible for keeping this pitching staff sharp is catcher Nick Hundley, who was recently signed to a two year extension. Manager Bud Black is still waiting for him to have a breakout year but not at the expensive of his more important catching duties.

“His focus needs to on handling the pitching staff,” Black said, “be a good defender. I think his bat will speak for himself. We need him to play and we need him to play a lot”

The Padres added more power to their lineup with the acquisitions of left fielder Carlos Quentin and young first baseman Yonder Alonso. Yet a .312 batting average and versatility could make reserve utility-man Jesus Guzman the x-factor of the lineup.

“There’s a place for Guzy,” Black said. “Guzy can get some stars at first, he can get some starts in the outfield. “You might see him at third base to give Headley some rest.”

The most important thing about this Padres lineup is their style. They are a team identical to the Tampa Bay Rays in terms of abundant speed in the lineup.

Last season they had six hitters with double digit stolen bases and could have more than that this year with Guzman playing for a full season. Center fielder Cameron Maybin leads the fast lineup with over 40 stolen bases last season.

Their ability to score runs by getting on base and blazing through the base paths is crucial if they are going to make a run at the NL West title.

“Were a team that needs to run,’ Black said. “We need to put pressure on the defense. We gotta steal bases to manufacture runs.”

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TUCSON, Ariz. – On a clear blue sunny Friday, baseball fans all across Tucson were treated to a spring training game at Kino Stadium between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Seattle Mariners.

While the Brewers brought only their prospects to Tucson, the Mariners brought over a mixture of their present and future in Felix Hernandez, Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, Alex Liddi, Jesus Montero and Michael Saunders.

Pitcher Felix Hernandez may be at the “what you see is what you get” point of his career, but what you get is a Cy Young award winning ace who makes all of his starts, strikes out over 200 batters and gives up an average of two to three runs a game. Against the Brewers, Hernandez went six innings, gave up only one hit and struck out six batters.

“He can just wake up in the morning and do that kind of thing,” Mariners Second baseman Dustin Ackley said on Hernandez.

Ackley will start this season in the two spot of the lineup. He showed his hitting ability in Tucson by getting a double in all three of his at-bats. If he can be that kind of hitter throughout 2012, Ackley should be very instrumental in Seattle’s run production.

First baseman Justin Smoak is entering his third major league season. Since coming over to Seattle in the Cliff Lee trade in 2010, Smoak has hit .235 with 20 home runs and 69 RBIs. He reportedly came into camp in better shape and has .350 spring average. This might be the year for him but if not, there’s Alex Liddi waiting for an opportunity.

Alex Liddi is Seattle’s third baseman of the future, but has been getting looks at first base lately. Unlike Smoak, Liddi is more of pure power hitter. He hit a two run home run in Tucson and is also hitting 435 this spring. Whether it’s as a third baseman, first baseman or designated hitter, it’s only a matter of time until he becomes a regular in the Mariners’ lineup .

Starting the season at DH right now is Jesus Montero. Montero was brought in from New York in the Michael Pineda trade over the offseason and by hitting .328 in 18 games with the Yankees, he’s proven that he can hit major league pitching. He still needs work as a major league catcher.

Then there’s center fielder Michael Saunders, who seems to have finally found his swing after struggling in the majors for five years. He’s hitting .407 this spring and is making a move on the starting center field job vacated by Franklin Gutierrez’s injury.

Combine these guys with veterans like Miguel Olivo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Chone Figgins, and the Mariners could breakout this season like Tampa Bay did in 2008. They have a solid rotation behind Felix Hernandez and their bullpen can compete with the likes of Texas and Los Angeles. It may only be a matter of time for Seattle.

“We’re gonna surprise to some people this year as far as how well we’re gonna do offensively,” Ackley said. “Our pitching is always gonna be there so hopefully we’ll have a solid year all around.”

Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

PEORIA, Ariz. — Mariners infielder Alex Liddi has been through quite a journey. Born and raised in Sanremo, Italy, Liddi signed with the Seattle Mariners at the age of 17.

From then on out, Liddi spent the next six years in the Minor Leagues. Staring rookie ball in the Arizona League was great for a foreigner to adapt to the U.S. by staying in one central location. But it didn’t make going through the culture shock any easier.

“It wasn’t easy at the beginning,” Liddi said. “It’s a different culture. I had to learn the language. I had to learn how to get around.”

As he progressed through the many levels of the Minor Leagues, going from small town to small city via team bus was a great way for Liddi to see his new country.

“It helped me know the country better,” Liddi said, “know every kind of city and different cultures everywhere you go and different types of food. It’s fun to have a chance to do that.”

After reaching the majors in September of 2011, Liddi has gotten a taste of American big city life. Throughout the month Liddi played in Seattle, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Dallas, and the Twin Cites of Minnesota. He instantly noticed a big difference between those cities and the Italian cities such as Rome, Venice, and Milan.

“It’s two different styles,” Liddi said. “The American city is big and you can move around with a car. In Italy, it’s a lot of public transportation. We don’t have a lot of room.”

Seattle star second baseman Dustin Ackley started his professional baseball career in 2009 and has been teammates with Liddi in both the Minor Leagues and the Major Leagues. He hears it from Liddi all the time when it comes to America’s “subpar” Italian restaurants.

“He always talks about the Olive Gardens and stuff like that,” Ackley said, “how they’re not that great He’s like, ‘that’s nothing like how my mom makes it.’”

“The food is healthier,” Liddi said, “even with a lot of calories, it’s more fresh and more healthy than here.”

“I’m still waiting to eat his mom’s spaghetti,” Ackley said.

Even in a sport as global as baseball, Liddi is still a novelty. He is the first ever born and raised Italian to make it into Major League Baseball. And while there’s a lot of good that come from it, he can’t have that much attention all the time.

“It’s fun to be popular and be famous and have everybody cheering for you,” Liddi said. “But at the same time you want to have time by yourself and be yourself.”

This spring Liddi is working on his defensive skills in both corner infield positions in an effort to increase his value. He’s also working on making better contact with the ball. It may just be a matter of time until he becomes a very dangerous power hitter in the Mariners’ lineup.

Andrew B. Fielding-US PRESSWIRE

PEORIA, Ariz.– Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Charlie Furbush has had an interesting path to the major leagues. He got drafted out of LSU in 2007, was injured for all of 2008, came back in 2009 and was back on track in 2010.

Then 2011 happened.

“Last year was kinda the craziest year of my life,” Furbush said, “but I couldn’t have been more happy.”

Furbush made his major league debut for the Detroit Tigers in May as a reliever. He had a serviceable ERA of 3.62 and struck out 26 batters in 32.1 innings. He was then traded to the Seattle Mariners for Doug Fister and was immediately converted into a starter.

Sounds like a daunting task, but for Furbush, it was the other way around.

“I’ve been a starter my whole career with the Tigers,” Furbush said, “and then I got called up to the bullpen so I had to adjust to the bullpen life. Then I ended up getting a chance at the rotation  once I got traded here.”

As a starter in 2011, Furbush went 3-7 with an ERA of 6.62 but in 53 innings he struck out 41 batters. Thus prompting the Mariners to reconvert him into a reliever.

“Being new to the bullpen last year was something that I had to kinda learn on the fly,” Furbush said. “But I had such a fun time doing that.”

One of the biggest challenges in becoming part of a bullpen is that the bullpen is the reliever’s team. Furbush is more a part of the Mariners’ bullpen than the Mariners as a whole, which makes chemistry vital.

“The camaraderie  in the bullpen is something that’s very important to every team,” Furbush said.

So far he has yet to give up a run in five innings so far this Spring Training. He’s currently fighting for a spot in the bullpen.

“As long as stay up here,” Furbush said, “That’s the most important thing.”

Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

LOS ANGELES — In only their first season, the Colorado Buffaloes won The Pac-12 Tournament. It was not only a victory for the team, but also for Australia.

Australia was well represented in the tournament with six Australians including Colorado’s Nate Tomlinson and Shane Harris-Tunks. While ruby and cricket dominate the sports world their homeland,  basketball is actually an underrated sport down under.

“Basketball is the most played sport as juniors,” Tomlinson said. “There’s just too much money in other sports.”

The two Aussies had to adapt to the cold weather in Boulder, Colorado. Even though they say it’s a beautiful place, the cold climate clearly isn’t for everyone.

“It’s different because it was cold and there was snow,” Shane Trunks said, “so it was kind of fun first few times. After a while …”

“I’m sick of it now,” Tomlinson said. “I wanna be right here in LA.”

Colorado recently finished their first regular season in the Pac-12, and for Tomlinson and Trunks, it meant going to cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, and Salt Lake City. Which is a big difference from playing in the Big 12 where the only big city in the conference is Austin, TX.

“It’s definitely a lot nicer in the PAC-12,” Shane Trunks said. “But going to places with a warm climate most of the time. It definitely makes going to Boulder tolerable.”

“Especially the way the pac12 is set up,” Tomlinson said, “we’ll leave Boulder and come to LA for pretty much the whole week. It’s good to come out.”

This will be the first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the duo from down under, and if they go far enough, they could add Atlanta and New Orleans to their list of American cities.

Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

LOS ANGELES – Arizona is now one game away from both the Pac-12 championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

None of this would be possible without the contributions of seniors Jesse Perry and Kyle Fogg, and junior Solomon Hill.

“The meaning of Jesse, Solomon, and Kyle is immense,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said after their quarterfinal victory over UCLA. “These three guys are the heart and soul of our team.

Against Oregon State, the trio scored a combined 50 points and 22 rebounds. They were the only Arizona players with more than 30 minutes.

“When you talk about a go-to guy,” Miller said, “it’s those three. Solomon, Jesse, and Kyle really have been the most consistent players on out team. They carry us.”

Arizona continues to be the class of the Pac-12. They are in the conference tournament final for the 7th time and they are the only team in the conference to have 20 tournament wins. This roller coaster season now comes down to one more game.

“We had our ups and downs during the season,” Arizona freshman guard Johnson said, “but that’s just natural.  We’re just trying to get to the tournament, and that’s what I’ve been dreaming of.  We’ve got one game left.”

Tip-off starts tomorrow at 4pm Arizona time.

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LOS ANGELES – After knocking off the tournament’s  top seeded team, Arizona fans would say that Oregon State has given the Wildcats a clear path to the championship.

But can they really be so certain about that?

Oregon State topped Washington State in the opener and advanced to the quarterfinals where they were to play Washington. Them upsetting the Huskies would be considered a long shot and a blessing to Arizona if it happened.

Well the Beavers did beat Washington and now it’s possible that they , like the New York Giants in the NFL playoffs, are now even more dangerous than the previous threat.

“They have great length at the forward spots,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “They’ve played a 1‑3‑1 zone and they’ve changed in the past.  So it’s tough to get ready for that in one day, although we’ll be ready.”

“There wasn’t really a go‑to guy,” Arizona Forward Solomon Hill said, “and that can be dangerous,” ”The way they rebound is a big thing.  I think they rebound more effectively than UCLA.  And those guys are long.  You’ve got to go out there and shot fake a couple times, get them in the air and try to get them in foul trouble as much as we can.”

Oregon State won their first game of the tournament with Jarred Cunningham, arguably their best player, only scoring four points despite having the most minutes. He scored 19 points in a near triple-double in a win against Washington with the supporting cast producing similar results in both games. His point total was the difference in winning the quarterfinal round.

While Jared’s playing a better offensive points game,” Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said, “it’s the assists that help us.  I mean, his ability to draw people to him and make his other teammates better, really important for us to beat really good teams.”

Tip-off starts tomorrow at 7pm Arizona time.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

LOS ANGELES – Bay Area supremacy will be on the line tomorrow as Stanford wasted Arizona State 85-65 and will take on California in the quarterfinals.

Both teams had the same amount of free throws and three point attempts. Stanford made five more free throws and three more three point shots. That made the difference in the game. Arizona State had its opportunities to knock off the Cardinal, but failed to make its shots early and had to play a futile game of catch up in the second half.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Arizona State guard Trent Lockett said. “We picked it up in the second half, but it was far too late.”

Now with the Sun Devils out of the way, Stanford can now focus on its arch rival, California.

The two Bay Area teams split the season series at one win apiece, so now this season’s edition of the rivalry will be decided in the Pac-12 Tournament.

California is projected to be a #10 seed in the Midwest region of the NCAA Tournament with a 23-8 record. With the win, Stanford is 21-10 and could possibly make it in the NCAA Tournament with a win against rivals.

“They’re our rivals,” Stanford guard Aaron Bright said, “and we can expect it to be a physical and chippy game tomorrow.”

Tip-off starts tomorrow at 7pm Arizona time.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

LOS ANGELES – The stakes are high in this rubber match.

The Pac-12′s two flagship teams will battle it out tomorrow in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament but the prize for their third matchup of the season is much more valuable that the conference crown itself.

Neither team is projected to be in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN’s bracketology and other mainstream media sources. UCLA is 19-13 and went 0-3 against power six opponents outside of the Pac-12. Arizona is 21-10 and went 2-3 against power six opponents outside of the Pac-12.

The Wildcats would likely just need to win one game in the Pac-12 tournament to get a NCAA bid. UCLA will have to win the entire tournament. Either way, the loser will have to settle with the NIT.

UCLA will have a clear size advantage over Arizona. Sophomore center Josh Smith is listed at 6-10 305lbs. The closest answer that Arizona has for him would junior center Kyryl Natyazhko, who is listed at 6-11 275lbs.

“Obviously they’re a little quicker,” UCLA coach Ben Howard said, “but we have a size advantage, and that helps us on the offensive glass and rebounding and things like that.”

UCLA routed rival USC in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament but only scored 50 points and shot 33%. They shot 41% in a loss to Arizona and shot 44% in a win over Arizona.

Tip-off starts tomorrow at 3:30pm Arizona time.

Source: pac-12.org

LOS ANGELES – Revenge is best served in Southern California.

Washington State swept Oregon State during the regular season. However in most cases, revenge has much more impact.

Oregon State came out in a furry during the first eight minutes of the game with a 24-8 run. Then Washington State stormed back and took the lead at halftime with a 31-14 run.

It was neck and neck for most of the second half until Oregon State pulled out on top with a 9-1 run to seal the win. Freshman forward Eric Moreland’s nine points (all in the second half) proved to be the difference.

With the win Oregon State will advance into the quarterfinals. The Beavers will face #1 seed Washington. Despite losing to them both times this season, Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson believes that his team can beat the Huskies.

“I think this year our athleticism is much better,” Robinson said. “So I think we can give them a better run from an athleticism standpoint.”

However despite possibly being the more athletic team, Coach Robinson knows that there will be small the margin of error tomorrow.

“They’ve got a fantastic team,” Robinson said. “Arguably three pros, maybe even four pros on that team, so we’re going to have to really execute our defensive plan as much as our offensive plan.

Tip-off starts tomorrow at 1pm Arizona time.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Tucson is well known for being a place for some of the top endurance athletes to come and train either year round or just the winter. With its friendly morning weather conditions, endurance athletes can be seen training for future races and even the upcoming olympics.

They are not hard to point out. Each endurance athlete can be identified by a certain body type. Cyclists are usually thin from the waist up but have all of their power in their legs. To get that type of body, one would have to committ to the sport.

“It is just a god-awful amount of time riding,” said 31 year-old cyclist Jason Smith.

Meaning that with enough time and repetition on a certain physical activity, your body would soon adapt to a certain body type that is more geared towards it. This is mostly true for all cardio endurance sports such as running, cycling, and swimming.

Tyler Ford, like Jason Smith, is also an amateur cyclist. Only 12 years older and ahead of him in terms of cardio fitness. Smith’s resting heart rate is 55 BPM while Ford’s is 39 BPM. And while he is a cyclist now, he didn’t start that way.

“I played college football believe it or not,” Tyler Ford said of his days as a defensive back for Northern Arizona University in the 1980′s. “I weighed 205lbs in college. One day I decided that I wanted to make some changes and lose some weight, so I bought a bike and started running and I went from 205 to 170 in about three months.”

Ford’s transformation came from a combination of his negligence in weight training and an emphasis in cardio and riding.

“It changes overtime,” Ford said. “It took a while. As I started to lose muscle mass and started to thin out, that’s when I started getting faster. Endurance athletes take a long time to develop. It doesn’t happen overnight.“

Unlike sports like football, and baseball, endurance athletes don’t lose their touch as they get older and start losing their youth. Endurance athletes can get better at their sport because their fitness level is increasing as they continue to stay active.

“I noticed that the older I get, I’m actually riding better,” Ford said

The beauty of cardio is that it doesn’t dissipate with age. As long as cyclist continue to partake in the sport of cycling or even compete in it, their cardio strength should continue to get better.

Photo by Tony Capobianco/Tucson Citizen

TUCSON, Ariz. — The 2012 season is a big one for the Arizona Wildcats, who will be playing in their new permanent home, Hi Corbett Field. Playing in their new 9,500-seat stadium will give them a better chance to host the NCAA Regionals.

The Wildcats have made postseason appearances in the last two years and are well equipped to make it back this year. They finished last season with the third-highest team batting average in the country, and it doesn’t look like their top five ranking will disappear this season.

Arizona will start the season with Joey Rickard (.347) at center field, Robert Refsnyder (.320) at right field, and Johnny Field (.297) at left field. Field started the 2011 season in left field, but the late emergence of then senior Bobby Rinard (.442) pushed him in the DH role for the remainder of the season. Shortstop Alex Mejia (.335) and third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean (.313) will occupy the left side of the infield for the third straight year, but the right side of the field will include new faces in Trent Gilbert and Brandon Dixson.

Trent Gilbert will start his freshman year batting second and playing second base. During his senior year of high school, Gilbert hit .447 with 39 runs scored and 47 RBIs. Brandon Dixon didn’t get much opportunity to play in 2011, but the sophomore is expected to provide some power as their first baseman after a full year of training.

Freshman Riley Moore, who will be the starting catcher, is similar in size to former Arizona catchers Dwight Childs (2007-2009) and Jett Bandy (2009-20011). Moore was a .493 hitter in high school and is expected to be a middle of the order contact hitter for Arizona.

Arizona’s hitting should continue to be the strength of their team. Not known for power, playing in a more spacious field should benefit the hitting style of the Wildcats.

When it comes to pitching, it’s junior Kurt Heyer and everyone else. Heyer started more games than anyone in country last season and during his 20 starts he pitched 138.1 innings with a 2.41 ERA and 134 strikeouts. Arizona will have a hard time competing with the Pac-12 if Heyer goes down.

Sophomore Konnor Wade (3.21 ERA) will be the Saturday starter and as many as four other pitchers will be competing for the Sunday starter role. James Farris, Lucas Long, Matt Troupe, and Vincent Littleman will be competing for the Sunday starter role. Whoever doesn’t win that role will either start the midweek games or pitch in the bullpen.

If the Wildcats are going to go far, the bullpen must not be their downfall. Last season, only one reliever had an ERA below 4.00 and he’s currently in the minor leagues. Guys like Jacob Doyle and Nick Cunningham has shown some flashes of dominance, but never consistently. These two pitchers, along with the new comers, must pitch well consistently.

Overall, Arizona head coach Andy Lopez likes what he sees in his team. But he knows that his team will need to play hard in order to win against the top tier teams.

“A good team that plays hard is pretty tough to beat,”Coach Lopez said.

One thing he likes about his team the most is its chemistry. As a coach for more than three decades, Coach Lopez knows first hand how important team chemistry is.

“I had teams that were pretty good talented wise but they wouldn’t play hard and those teams aren’t that tough to beat,” Lopez said. “A talented team that doesn’t play hard finds ways to lose.”

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

TEMPE, Ariz. — Junior quarterback Landry Jones came into the 2011 Insight Bowl as the center of attention. Every day he, his head coach, and his teammates were asked by the media whether or not the Star Sooner stays in Oklahoma or leaves for the NFL Draft. Each time he politely and humbly refuses to give an answer.

But surprisingly this bowl game wasn’t about Landry Jones. Even though he threw every pass for Oklahoma, his backup came out with the MVP trophy.

Redshirt freshman QB Blake Bell threw zero passes for zero yards but ran for three touchdowns and breaking the school record for the most rushing touchdowns by a freshman QB. He is also the team leader in rushing touchdowns.

But does he brag, nope. He shares the credit to he teammates like a good freshman quarterback.

“Landry is the one who gets me down there when I punch it in,” Blake Bell said, “so I give most of the credit to him.”

Coach Bob Stoops knows what kind of player he has in Blake Bell and like Urban Meyer did with Tim Tebow in Florida, he chose to utilize Bell’s running ability to complement his star quarterback.

“There is just no denying anyone that uses the quarterback run game,” Coach Stoops said on the Quarterback run game. “You watch Oregon when they do it, Florida with Tebow when he was a young quarterback and then on and on, you get the extra blocker when the quarterback is running the ball. And it just makes a huge difference. You have a chance to have a body on a body and then you find space with it.”

If Landry Jones decides to go to the NFL, Oklahoma can rest easy in knowing that they have a capable successor in Blake Bell.

Photo by Tony Capobianco/Tucson Citizen

TEMPE, Ariz. — This year’s rivalry game between the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils had a symbolic look to it. With Arizona’s all white uniforms and Arizona State’s all black uniforms, it felt like this year’s Duel in the Desert was a battle between good and evil. It was almost like the Sun Devils stood all that was dark in the world and the Wildcats was the pure light whose sole purpose is to defeat the dark.

Arizona jumped on top of the Sun Devils at the start of the game and took a 14-0 lead within minutes. Arizona State got on the board before the end of the first quarter and took a three point lead at the end of the first half. They controlled the lead until the final minutes of the game.

With a less than six minutes to go, Arizona was within scoring position but quarterback Nick Foles was knocked out of the game with a back injury. In comes Bryson Beirne, a graduate student who has spent four years with very little playing time due to being behind top Arizona quarterbacks like Willie Tuitama and Nick Foles for his entire career. Bryson throws only one pass, the only pass in his only appearance in this historic rivalry, to star wide receiver  Juron Criner. Criner muscled through Arizona State defenders (and even his own blocker) for 23 yards and the go ahead touchdown. With that touchdown pass, Bryson Beirne put his team in position to win the rivalry game with just five minutes left.

The Arizona defense prevented the Sun Devils from reaching the end zone with a last second pass deflect by cornerback Shaquille Richardson.

Arizona star quarterback Nick Foles completed 68% of his passes, threw for 370 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. But his backup threw the most important pass of the game, and he couldn’t be happier for his teammate.

“If there’s anyone who deserves it it’s him,” Foles said.

Arizona’s “Rudy” won the Territorial Cup and made their season.

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

PHOENIX — With the most epic night in baseball finally over, the regular season is finally history and the Arizona Diamondbacks now know who their playoff opponent is.

After the Diamondbacks clinched the National League West championship last weekend, it took until the final second of the regular season to find out who their opponent was going to be in the National League Divisional Series. Now they know that it’s the Milwaukee Brewers, who won the NL Central.

When comparing the two, the Brewers seem to have an edge over the Diamondbacks. when it comes to major star power and home field advantage. Yet there are a lot of similarities between the teams.

“I feel like we are a lot alike,” Chris Young said of their playoff opponent. “They are an exciting ball club as well. They have a mixture of good pitching and an exciting offense, just like I feel like we do.”

The Diamondbacks and Brewers both play in a ballpark that is similar in design. They both have air conditioned playing facilities with retractable roofs, and their mascots are accompanied by an entourage of racers. Baxter has the legends of 2001 while Bernie has the sausages. Arizona has a big-time duo in outfielders Chris Young and Justin Upton while Milwaukee has left fielder Ryan Braun and first baseman Prince Fielder.

Each team also has that one player who acts as a catalyst that brings the energy, swagger and scrappy play that generates the energy of the team and gets them through. For Arizona it’s third baseman Ryan Roberts, and for Milwaukee its center fielder Nyjer Morgan.

However the Brewers are to power and home runs as the Diamondbacks are to speedsters and stolen bases. So then it becomes a battle of offensive philosophies, and who better to influence that battle than the pitchers.

The ace of the Brewers has a 17-10 record with a 3.52 ERA and a 207/207.1 strikeout to innings pitched ratio. The second starter in the Diamondbacks’ rotation has a 16-12 record with a 3.49 ERA and a 169/222 strikeout to innings pitch ratio. That means that if the top guy on one staff is just as good as the second guy on another staff then their top guy should mow down the competition. Which is why Arizona ace Ian Kennedy is the X factor in this series. Not only did he win 21 of his starts, but he only lost four of them. That’s huge for someone going in the first and, potentially, the last game of the series.

Kennedy has the power to win the series himself like Cliff Lee did for Texas last year.

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks’ top pitcher Ian Kennedy came into their series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates needing only one more win to reach the 20 win benchmark. Kennedy would only need one attempt at the magical number after only allowing one hit and struck out 12 batters in eight innings.

Now the Arizona ace has a remarkable record of 20-4 and is in contention to win the National League Cy Young award. But recently the voters, who are entirely made up of prestigious baseball writers, have lowered the value of wins like American paper money.

There has been a trend highlighted by Felix Hernandez’ 2010  Cy Young campaign that involved leading the American League in many statistical categories while having a 13-12 record. They have turned the other cheek on a pitcher’s record and started to focus on the other individual stats such as ERA, WHIP, WAR and many other random acronyms.

“The Cy Young is being judged a lot now you feel like on a lot of those sabermetrics stats,” Daniel Hudson said.

“I think the most important one would probably be innings pitched,” Joe Saunders said. “Innings pitched is huge in this game. I think ERA would be second. I think wins and losses would probably be forth and fifth.”

The debate has drawn a line between the pitchers in the Diamondback starting rotation. Some agree with the new trend while others tend to be old-fashioned.

“Bottom line, you want to win in this game,” Hudson said, “I think wins should not be overlooked just because you can’t really control em.”

“Its really hard to control wins and losses cause you can go out there and throw up eight innings, give up one unearned run and still loose,” Saunders said. “You pitch your brains out and still end up with a loss when in actuality you should’ve had a win. In my perspective, I think it’s hard to get every win in this league especially in the National League where there’s so much fluctuation.”

This debate is only possible because of the choice that the voters will have to make between Ian Kennedy and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw is only 19-5 but leads the National League in ERA with 2.30 and strikeouts with 236. Kershaw seems to be the favorite for the Cy Young but one teammate of Kennedy’s strongly believes that the voters should take one little detail into account.

“His team’s fighting to get above .500 right now and our team is at first place,” Hudson said, “so I think you gotta look at that as well.”

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

PHOENIX — Although Arizona Diamondbacks’ first baseman Lyle Overbay joined the team a month ago, it seemed that Saturday’s game against the San Diego Padres was the official moment that his major league career went full circle.

During that weekend series, the Arizona Diamondbacks reunited the 2001 World Series Championship team and had their current team wear the purple pinstripes in their honor.

“Tonight was the perfect night to play the game that we played,” Arizona outfielder Chris Young said on Saturday’s victory.

Lyle Overbay made his major League debut in September of 2001. Ten years later, he was back on that very field with the same uniform.

“It’s kind of weird that he came up in September that year and he’s standing out there in that uniform again,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said on what team founder Jerry Colangelo told him during the pregame ceremonies.

On that special night, Overbay was the hero for the Diamondbacks. When his team was down a run in the bottom of the second, he hit a RBI double to tie the game. When the D-Backs were once again down a run in the bottom of the ninth, he followed Chris Young’s solo home run with one of his own off Padres’ closer Heath Bell to tie the game. Overbay then finished the job in the tenth by drawing the game winning walk to win the game 6-5.

“Even when it was 5-3 in the ninth,” Chris Young said on the moment leading up to Overbay’s heroic home run, “something was gonna happen just because of the energy that was in the building.”

It was fitting that the sole link between the 2001 team and the 2011 team came up big when they were both showcased that night. It was also fitting that he would be the one to emphasize the fact that he wants to further link the two teams together with a common outcome.

“It’s something where this team want’s to go.” Overbay said. “We’re jealous of them.”