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UA defeated Houston 8-1 on Saturday at Schroeder Park to win the series against the Cougars. Meanwhile, Arizona State suffered its third straight loss at Oklahoma State, enabling the Wildcats to leapfrog the Sun Devils in the Big 12 standings via the head-to-head tiebreaker.

As a result, Arizona (36-18, 18-12 Big-12) will get a bye in the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday in Arlington, Texas. The Wildcats are the No. 4 seed in the single-elimination event and will play their first game Thursday. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 5 seed ASU and No. 12 BYU. Arizona took three of four from the Sun Devils and two of three from the Cougars this season.

Putting themselves in this position required multiple rallies from the Wildcats. They lost the series opener Thursday, 13-4, before bouncing back to win Game 2 on Friday, 14-6.

Arizona fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the first Saturday when Houston leadoff batter Tre Broussard hit a solo home run. The UA offense responded with two runs in the second and four in the third. That was more than enough for freshman starter Smith Bailey, who settled in and put together perhaps the best outing of his collegiate career.

Bailey threw a career-high six innings, allowing just that one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Two Tucson products, Andrew Cain and Mason White, hit home runs for Arizona, which slugged six homers in the series.

Cain (Ironwood Ridge High School) went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. The sophomore has hit safely in four straight games and has three home runs over that span.

White went 1 for 3 and matched Cain with two RBIs and two runs scored. White’s solo homer in the fifth inning was the 101st extra-base hit of his career, tying UA coach Chip Hale for third on Arizona’s career leaderboard.

Inside pitch

– UA left fielder Easton Breyfogle exited in the second inning because of an upper-body injury. Breyfogle crashed into the wall while making a catch in the first inning, then appeared to get banged up further on a head-first slide into home in the top of the second.

– Third baseman Maddox Mihalakis was a late scratch. He made three diving plays on the artificial turf Friday.

– Julian Tonghini, Hunter Alberini and Tony Pluta each pitched a scoreless inning behind Bailey.