Grading Week One of Arizona Wildcats Baseball

The Wildcats have started out the 2013 season with a 4-1 record, trailing only Oregon and Oregon State in the Pac-12 after one week.

Pitching has been the best aspect of Arizona's week, with James Farris winning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week.

Here's how the rest of the team has performed:

Pitching: A

The only reason that this isn't an A+ is due to the lack of certainty in the Sunday starter role. Konner Wade went 6 innings of no-hit ball on Friday before giving up his only hit of the game, and James Farris followed that with 8 innings of two-hit ball on Saturday.

The two leading candidates for Sunday starter, Stephen Manthei and Tyler Hale, struggled mightily Sunday afternoon. But the bullpen came up big behind Augey Bill and closer Matthew Troupe. Manthei rebounded on Wednesday, going 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Troupe followed that with his own 1 2/3 innings, earning his second save of the week.

Nick Cunningham and Tyler Crawford each have a relief appearance, and started Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Cunningham took the loss for Tuesday's game, going 4 innings and giving up 5 runs. Crawford won Wednesday's game, giving up just 1 unearned run in 5 2/3 innings.

Freshman Tyger Talley has two relief appearances under his belt, going 3 2/3 scoreless. Senior Augey Bill went 4 1/3 scoreless this week. Arizona pitchers held both Coppin State and Long Beach State to a combined 0 runs after the 4th inning.

Offense: A-

The Coppin State series made it very difficult to judge how the lineup will perform this year. Eagles pitchers gave up 37 walks and hit by pitches in the three game set, leading to a team OBP of .519 for Arizona.

Brandon Dixon led the way, batting .467 and a .591 OBP in the opening week, with Ryan Koziol right behind with a .400 BA and a .500 OBP. Riley Moore, Tyler Parmenter and Joseph Maggi each have 7 BBs/HBPs.

Koziol leads the team with 8 RBI. Johnny Field and Trent Gilbert have 7 apiece.

Defense: B

Arizona has 4 errors through 5 games, one each from Koziol, Dixon, Maggi and Bill. A huge bright spot is freshman Kevin Newman, who has looked great at shortstop so far. The outfield is a little shaky with Field playing center, and it showed on the inside-the-park grand slam hit by Coppin State on Sunday. Brandon Dixon appears to be settling into his new role at third base quickly.

Upcoming week:

Arizona starts an 18 game home-stand this week, taking on San Jose State on Friday (6PM), Saturday (4PM), and Sunday (Noon). The Utah Valley Wolverines come to Tucson on Tuesday (6PM) and Wednesday (1PM).

Pac-12 Standings:

Oregon (4-0)

Oregon State (4-0)

Arizona (4-1)

California (3-1)

Arizona State (2-1)

UCLA (2-1)

Stanford (2-2)

USC (2-2)

Utah (1-2)

Washington State (1-2)

Washington (1-3)