Arizona names starting pitching rotation for season opening series

Arizona announced its starting pitching rotation of Owen Kramkowski on Friday, Smith Bailey on Saturday and Collin McKinney on Sunday for their season-opening weekend series. Bailey and Kramkowski led Arizona with 18 starts in 2025.

Kramkowski will make the Opening Day start for Arizona against Stanford. Stanford finished 27-25 in 2025 and missed its second consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal has not missed three consecutive NCAA Tournaments since missing 13 in a row from 1968 to 1980. Stanford was picked 11th in the ACC.

Kramkowski had nine wins and six losses with a 5.48 earned run average in 92.0 innings, allowing 116 hits and 18 walks with 90 strikeouts. Kramkowski had mixed results in the NCAA Tournament allowing one run against Cal Poly, eight versus North Carolina and Coastal Carolina scored three off of him in the College World Series.

Bailey pitched 89.0 innings in 2025 with a 3.94 ERA, allowing 92 hits and 32 walks and 80 strikeouts. In the NCAA Tournament, Bailey had a 2.50 ERA, pitching six innings in each of his three starts. Bailey will start against Oregon State on Saturday. Oregon State is 12th in the ESPN preseason top 25.

Closing the weekend

McKinney will make his 2026 debut against Michigan on Sunday. In 15 appearances with 13 starts in 2025, McKinney had a 3.98 ERA over 54.1 innings, allowing 47 hits and 35 walks, while recording 60 strikeouts. Michigan finished 32-28 in 2025.

First pitch against Stanford is at 6 PM Mountain Standard Time, Arizona and Oregon State will start at 2 PM on Saturday and the game versus Michigan is scheduled to begin at 4 PM on Sunday from Surprise Stadium. Arizona will play its home opener on Tuesday night against Nebraska-Omaha.

Arizona received a major blow earlier this week when it was announced that All-American stopper Tony Pluta is out for the entire 2026 season. Wildcats' head coach Chip Hale announced that Garrett Hicks will open the 2026 season as the Arizona stopper.