Team Blue had Jackson Kent on the mound and Team Red had Trevor Long.

After Kent pitched three perfect innings, Mason White took him deep to open the fourth. Kent, who was on the team but didn’t play last season, pitched 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, with 7 strikeouts and 0 walks. One of the aspects of his pitching that Arizona coach Chip Hale preaches the most is strike filling his zone, and that’s exactly what Kent did.

“He did a great job,” said Hale. “He mixes his pitch and works quickly, which helps on defense.”

Left-handed Kent made every pitch work on Saturday afternoon.

“Everything felt really good,” Kent said. I’m throwing a fastball and counting up.”

After being Arizona’s closer for much of the second half of last season, Long is seen as the starter this season. After some strong innings, the game went a short distance from Long in the 4th. However, he faced a lineup very similar to what Hale would come up short on day one.

“He was playing against the majority of veteran hitters,” Hale said. “We wanted to see him play against them. They made some adjustments to him. He did pretty well at first but was throwing strikes again. It was more hits, so that’s exactly what it is.”

Hale said staff are still working out who will start against Tennessee.

With Daniel Souzak gone, Arizona has big cleats filling up behind the plate. The general expectation is that Tommy Splaine and Cameron LaLiberte will fight. Both are expected to see playing time.

“They will probably play evenly in the first few weeks,” Hale said. “Then something like that takes its own life. One of the two men would probably get away with it.

Last season, Splen started 47 games as a true freshman, batting .271 with two homers, seven doubles and 24 RBIs. He also started seven of Arizona’s eight postseason games.

LaLiberte started eight times, appeared in 18 games, and batted .303. 429 batting average, in Pac-12 play he scored 7 runs in 3 doubles and his 4 starts. LaLiberte returned home on Saturday.

Whoever controls the starting job, Hale made sure one of them wouldn’t catch in every game, as Susak nearly did over the past two seasons.

One of the other big holes to fill is in right field, where Tanner Otlemba left. His junior Emilio Corona, who hit a homer on Saturday, is expected to be the starter on the right side on Day 1.

Corona spent the last few years at the University of Washington and Pima Community College before transferring to Arizona.

“He swings the bat well,” Hale said. “He’s playing right field, and he’s doing a good job. He’s got a lot of power, so if he can barrel a few balls, he can hit it from anywhere in the ballpark. That’s what you really want in a guy, obviously in the corner outfield you need a guy who can hit a little extra slug.”

Veteran Tyler Casagrande also got a proper look at playing time.

Holden Christian and Long helmed the majority of Arizona’s save opportunities last season. Christian would run out of qualifications and Long could start as mentioned earlier.

“I think we’ll be using a lot of people early on,” Hale said. “Then we’ll probably see who’s going to be the best guy for that when we get into play for the Pac-12. It could come from one of our starters who knows.”

Derek Dries, who moved to Arizona from Butler this offseason, pitched an inning on Saturday with two walks and one strikeout. He’s one of the candidates to see some save chances after recording a 1.27 rate.

Chris Barraza, Eric Orloff, George Arias Jr., Aiden May and Brandon Zastrow are other pitchers who could see some save opportunities early in Arizona.

UA pitching coach Dave Roan noted that the transfer Cam Walty could see some work at all three levels as a starter, middle reliever and closer.