CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. ? South Alabama ran into a hot lineup and an even hotter pitcher as the Jags fell 18-0 to the No. 1 ranked Arizona Wildcats, in its opening game of the 2008 Whataburger College Classic in Corpus Christi, Tex. Friday afternoon.

Preston Guilmet went eight strong innings for the Cats, striking out a season-high 12 batters en route his second win of the season. Kevin Nabors took the loss for USA, falling to 2-1. David Doss was the lone bright spot for the Jags, collecting two hits on the day.

The Wildcats got to Nabors in the first, taking advantage three hits and a pair of hit batters. Nabors looked to be out of the inning with no damage, but saw a weak grounder bounce off his glove to prolong the inning. Colt Sedbrook delivered a big blow, with a two-run single, as Arizona went up 3-0 at the end of the first.

Arizona added two more runs in the bottom of the second. After Nabors got the first two hitters in order, Jon Gaston walked and C.J. Ziegler followed with a two-out, two-run home run to right field to make the score 5-0. For Ziegler it was his Division I leading seventh home run of the season.

In the third, UA continued to pile on the runs, adding two more runs with the help of two, two-out walks. With the bases loaded and two outs, Diallo Fon bounced an infield single deep in the hole at shortstop. The ball caromed off of Bunky Kateon’s glove and into short left field. The error led to UA’s seventh unanswered run.

Arizona chased Nabors in the fourth inning, scoring four runs before freshman right-hander Luke Grissett took over. The righty gave up a single and double before he struck out Dwight Childs to end the inning with Arizona leading 12-0.

Grissett got one out in the fifth before giving way to Michael Logan. Logan allowed two hits and a run in his two thirds of an inning. At the end of the fifth inning, USA trailed the Wildcats by a score of 16-0.

Michael Raia came on in the bottom of the sixth and looked to put up South Alabama first scoreless inning until a fielding error and hit by pitch, followed by a long triple scored another two runs for UA. Raia did however hold the Cats scoreless in the seventh, by recording three fly ball outs to retire the side.

USA will takes its 7-4 record into action Saturday against the Notre Dame on Saturday at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available at USAJAGAURS.COM.