Both the Male and female Diamond Dawgs kick their seasons into high gear this weekend, as both the baseball and softball teams open up conference play.

Over at Husky Ballpark the Washington baseball team hosts the Arizona Wildcats to open up their conference slate. Lindsay Meggs and his men are in the midst of a 16-game home stand, the longest in school history. But do not expect the Wildcats to help the Huskies get comfortable at all, as they're coming in on an eight-game win streak and an impressive 12-4 record.

Although Arizona holds the edge in the series historically, 29-25, the Huskies have been dominant in recent years over the boys from Tucson. The Huskies have won eight of the last ten match ups between the two teams, including four straight when playing in Seattle.

The finale to last week's series against Pacific was rained out, but the UW came away winning the series, 2-1 to improve their record to 8-5. The Huskies will be either proving or disproving their power number this weekend, as the UW are among the conference leaders in more than a few offensive categories. The UW offense ranks second behind Pac-12 leader Oregon State in average (.313), slugging percentage (.447) and on-base percentage (.406). They are also tied for the league lead with 9 home runs and are third with 32 doubles. 

Over at Husky Softball Stadium, what is likely the best match up of the weekend throughout the conference will be taking place. The eighth ranked Huskies softball team host the seventh ranked Oregon State Beavers. A lot of offensive firepower is to be expected as these are the two best offensive teams in the Pac-12. Oregon State comes in sporting a .386 batting average, best in the conference, while the Huskies are a close second hitting .378. The Huskies lead the conference in runs scored (211), on-base percentage (.469) and RBI (192). Nationally, the Dawgs rank No. 2 in scoring (9.59), No. 3 in doubles per game (2.14), No. 4 in home runs per game (1.59), No. 4 in slugging percentage (.636) and No. 6 in batting average.

The Huskies have been very impressive in the lead up to conference play, with six wins over top-25 ranked teams thus far. Up until now, they have won against No. 2 Michigan, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 19 Notre Dame. No. 22 Minnesota, No. 23 Nebraska and No. 24 Fresno State. And it goes without saying, they will be looking to add no. 7 Oregon State this weekend.

Hopefully mother nature complies and keeps Seattle dry for what should be an exciting week of ball on the diamonds in Montlake. However we should keep our fingers crossed, as the forecast calls for clouds on Saturday and rain on Sunday.

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