MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s season-opening gauntlet continues for a second straight weekend as the Mountaineers take a four-game trip to Arizona.

WVU (2-2) opens its second weekend of competition with a three-game series at Arizona (3-1), starting with a Friday night showdown at the Wildcats’ Hi Corbett Field at 8 p.m. ET. Arizona is West Virginia’s third straight opponent from the 2022 NCAA Tournament field, but the first that did not host a regional.

The Wildcats host WVU for their first home game of the season after taking three out of four wins at the MLB Desert Invitational. They opened especially strong, earning a 3-1 upset over No. 2 Tennessee behind a winning effort from righty ace TJ Nichols (1-0, 1.50 ERA).

The Mountaineers have a tough trend to beat on Friday as the Wildcats are 18-2 in home openers. However, Arizona earned its second loss just a year ago, as it lost to Grand Canyon in the 2022 home opener.

Nichols will toe the rubber against WVU ace Ben Hampton (0-0, 1.50 ERA), who had a strong outing to start WVU’s season. The junior right-hander, working for six innings and striking out eight Georgia State batters, allowing one earned run and one hit.

WVU still fell, though, as the Mountaineer bullpen struggled in its first performance of the season. Hampton and his relievers allowed three runs in the seventh inning, helping the Eagles overcome a two-run deficit to take the win.

On a positive note for WVU, the Mountaineers’ bats showed some encouraging signs as they tallied 26 hits and 18 runs. They continued that trend on Tuesday when they traveled to Maryland and edged the 13th-ranked Terrapins 8-6, logging eight runs on 11 hits.

WVU and Arizona will face one another for the first time in their respective histories, and it is just the sixth time the Mountaineers will face a program from the Pac-12.

After completing the series, WVU will head to Scottsdale on Monday to face the Arizona Diamondbacks in an exhibition game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, their Spring Training venue. The Diamondbacks are owned by prominent WVU alumnus Ken Kendrick.

WVU’s weekend begins at 8 p.m. ET on Friday when it faces the Wildcats, and all three games of that series will be shown on Pac-12 Insider.