A season ago, the Arizona baseball team waltzed into Foley Field as the No. 1 team in the country with Georgia sitting as No. 24, and took two of three games.

This season, the roles will be reversed, as the No. 12 Diamond Dogs travel to Tucson for a three-game weekend series beginning tonight against an unranked but hungry Wildcat squad.

“Georgia is a good team,” said Arizona junior catcher Daniel Butler. “They’re from a strong conference and they play a lot of good baseball down there. It’s going to be a battle and whoever comes out swinging a little bit is going to be the one who walks away on top.”

For Georgia to remain successful, the players believe they just need to keep the game simple.

“All we want to do is go out there and play our game,” said Georgia senior pitcher Trevor Holder.

After opening the season against less-than-stellar opponents in Youngstown State and Presbyterian, the Dogs (5-0) are eager for their first and only test prior to conference play.

“I think we’re excellently prepared,” senior catcher Bryce Massanari said. “We are hitting the ball well and our pitching staff has been dominant and I think we are ready for the next step on the road and I’m excited to see how we do against them.”

Like the Dogs, Arizona (4-1) also has a vastly different team from a year ago, but still will present a challenge, a fact Georgia is well aware of.

“It’s how we play, it has nothing to do with Arizona,” head coach David Perno said. “We’ve got a good team and plenty of pitching, and we got some big bats in our lineup and we are getting some good table setters going, and if we keep doing those types of things, we’ll be fine.”

This weekend will be the first road experience for Georgia’s stable of freshmen, and it is something they have been looking forward to since the season began.

“It’s going to be our first time travelling to Arizona, which is a great place, and to a great stadium and a great team, and I’m really looking forward to playing Arizona,” said freshman right fielder Chase Davidson.

Added freshman third baseman Colby May: “If the crowd dogs us a little bit, it will put some fire under us and make us play a lot harder, and kill ‘em.”

- Bobby Stover of the Arizona Daily Wildcat contributed to this report