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EUGENE, Ore. — Heading into Sunday night’s Eugene Regional final, Mason White trailed Arizona career leader Shelley Duncan by seven home runs.

It’s probably a long shot for White (48) to catch Duncan (55). But the way things have gone lately for the junior shortstop and the Wildcats, who knows?

White capped a torrid month of May with a school-record-tying three homers in Arizona’s 14-4 victory over Utah Valley on Saturday night. The win — which featured a school-record eight long balls — sent the Wildcats into the regional final, where they awaited the winner of an elimination game between UVU and Cal Poly on Sunday afternoon.

Any future UA opponent should be glad to see the calendar flip to June. White was a wrecking ball in May, batting .446, compiling an absurd 1.672 OPS and clubbing 10 of his team-leading and career-high-tying 19 home runs.

All 10 came in 11 games since May 9. White had six home runs in five postseason games entering Sunday. On Saturday, he became the ninth Wildcat to hit three homers in one game.

“I’ve never even done that,” quipped UA coach Chip Hale, Arizona’s all-time leader in hits.

Hale was listed at 5-11, 190 pounds, about the same as White (5-11, 186). Hale hit seven home runs in 575 career at-bats as a major-leaguer.

White’s third home run vs. UVU almost didn’t happen. With the Wolverines in an extreme shift in the fourth inning, White tried to drop a bunt down the third base line. He pushed it foul. Three pitches later, he launched his third homer over the center field wall.

“They were giving it to me,” White said. “If I got a pitch to do it on, of course I was. The count dictates that, and the score, but 100%. If the game was closer later in the game, when I came back up with the full shift, I absolutely would have done it.”

While teammate Brendan Summerhill is projected as a first-round draft pick, the latest rankings have White going in the fifth round. ranks him as the 138th overall prospect; has him 153rd.

He might be able to move up that board, too.

Hints of ‘24 Casey

Arizona probably would have defeated Utah Valley without Casey Hintz, but Hintz made that task a lot more manageable.

The junior right-hander delivered three hitless innings out of the bullpen. He inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth inning and limited the Mustangs to two runs on groundouts.

Seven of the nine outs he recorded were on grounders. The other two were strikeouts. It was the perfect formula on a night when the wind was blowing out and any well-struck fly ball had a chance to sail out of PK Park.

It was also a return to form for Hintz, who was an extreme groundball pitcher last season and an extremely effective long reliever earlier this season.

Hintz had a 64.3% ground-ball rate and an 18.8% fly-ball rate in 2024, per . Those numbers are 45.5% and 32.6% this season.

Unsurprisingly, Hintz has allowed more home runs this season — seven in 49⅓ innings versus two in 32⅔ innings last season.

His ERA is 5.29, up from 4.13 last season. But his WHIP has fallen from 1.84 to 1.34. The home runs have hurt him, as have hit batsmen, which don’t count toward WHIP. Hintz has hit nine batters this year after plunking only two in 2024.

Hintz has been flawless in the postseason, allowing just one hit in 4⅔ innings vs. TCU (in the Big 12 Tournament championship game) and UVU.

Asked what’s changed since his midseason slump — which spiked his ERA from 2.01 on March 23 to 5.84 on May 15 — Hintz said:

“Staying consistent and being able to trust my stuff. I think in the middle there I was going around hitters because I was getting hit around. Then I started walking guys. I think it was just really getting back to what I know I’m best at, and that’s throwing strikes and getting ground balls.”

Hale knows how important Hintz could be if Arizona is to make a deep postseason run.

“He’s been working his way back,” Hale said. “It’s been tough. We relied so heavily on him on Fridays, coming in ... and finishing games. To get back in that role where he becomes like the second closer for us, it’s huge.”

Waz’s perspective

This year marked the fourth year in a row in which the host school did not win the regional in which Arizona participated.

In 2022, Ole Miss won the Coral Gables Regional hosted by Miami. In ‘23, TCU won the Fayetteville Regional hosted by Arkansas. Last year, West Virginia won the Tucson Regional hosted by Arizona. And this year, host Oregon went 0-2.

Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski, a longtime assistant under Andy Lopez at Arizona, stressed the bigger picture after a disappointing end to Oregon’s season. The program didn’t have a bat contract when Wasikowski became the head coach in June 2019, he said. The Ducks have gone to the NCAA Tournament five straight seasons and went to back-to-back Super Regionals in 2023 and ‘24 for the first time in school history.

“Continue to build a culture. Continue to build a program. It’s a program that we’re trying to build, not just a player,” said Wasikowski, whose daughter, Kelsey, is a swimmer for the UA swim & dive team. “We pride ourselves on not being a transactional group. We invest in these young guys with all of our hearts.

“We’re playing baseball and we’re blessed to play baseball. ... When you’re walking away from a season that you wanted more out of, you can still look at it and say to yourself that there are a lot harder things going on in life ... than losing a regional and going 0-2.

“What I would try to encourage the young people (whom) I’ve had the chance to be around all season is keeping it in perspective. Usually, good things come to the people that work the hardest.

“Continue to teach and preach core values that are going to make these young people very successful. That’s all we’re trying to do on a daily basis, and we believe that that’s going to lead to the best person they can be.”