There’s an alternate reality in which Tony Lira is not an Arizona Wildcat.
There’s another in which he was never born at all.
When Alexandra Lira was pregnant with Tony — now the starting first baseman for the UA baseball team — doctors raised the possibility of aborting him. Ultrasounds indicated he would be born with a debilitating heart condition.
But when he was delivered, Tony did not have the holes in his heart that the tests had shown.
“Tony was our little miracle baby,” Alexandra told the Star in a phone interview this week. “It was really crazy.”
He did face challenges, however.
Alexandra noticed that Tony’s speech development was delayed. He was given a hearing test that revealed a 90% loss in one ear and 80% in the other. He had five surgeries between the ages of 4 and 10, the last of which involved reconstructing his ear drums. He can now hear at about the rate that his hearing was once lost.
Arizona's Tony Lira connects for his first collegiate home run vs. UConn on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, at Hi Corbett Field.
Along the way, Tony frequently suffered ear infections. That resulted in him developing auditory processing disorder, or ADP. Per the Cleveland Clinic, “auditory processing disorder is a condition that makes it harder to process sounds and language. You hear words, but it might take your brain a bit longer to understand them.”
In Tony’s case, ADP greatly impacted his short-term memory. He attended special-education classes and needed extra tutoring, in addition to speech therapy.
“It was hard, as a kid especially,” Tony said. “I got bullied a lot.”
Tony also was overweight. But his mom said Tony was really bothered when other kids with disabilities would get bullied. He’d fight back on their behalf, and Alexandra would get calls from the middle-school principal about what Tony had done — throwing a bully’s bike into a parking lot or ripping a bathroom stall door off to retrieve a friend’s stolen sweater.
Tony was never suspended, and his parents never punished him. “He was doing good deeds,” Alexandra reasoned.
Schoolwork remained difficult, but Tony had a major source of motivation: sports. He was a skilled baseball and basketball player.
“Those are what kept me driven to be who I am,” Tony said Wednesday, two days before Arizona faces Oregon in the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Baseball Classic. “And that's what honestly made me feel normal as a kid.”
But in order to play, Tony had to take care of his academic work. He also had to participate in speech-therapy sessions.
“I credit him for putting in the work,” Alexandra said. “Most kids, their day starts at 6:30. Tony’s day, he woke up at 5. Workouts, classes, baseball. And then after that he had speech therapy online ending at 10:30, 11 at night to help him in understanding and processing assignments.
Arizona first baseman Tony Lira (36) gloves a hopper up the line from UConn batter Maddix Dalena (43) to throw him out in the fourth inning of their game, Feb. 19, 2026, at Hi Corbett Field.
“Tony’s just a go-getter. He’ll figure it out.”
Where he belongs
Lira showed great promise as a baseball player and became a sought-after college prospect at Oakmont High School in Roseville, California. He was Perfect Game’s 12th-ranked first baseman in the class of 2024.
Despite the effects of ADP, Tony was able to memorize baseball statistics and retain information to help him perform on the diamond.
“Somehow, when it comes to baseball stuff, his brain has found a way to adapt that memory,” said Alexandra, an attorney in the Sacramento area. “When you really love something, you’re going to find a way to make it happen.”
Tony committed to Arizona, where he redshirted last season on the Wildcats’ College World Series squad. He found the experience enjoyable and educational. But it also further fueled his hunger to play.
Arizona's Tony Lira, middle, taps helmets with teammate Andrew Cain, left, after hitting his first collegiate home run vs. UConn on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, at Hi Corbett Field.
Even with the departure of senior first baseman Tommy Splaine, Lira wasn’t assured a starting spot. So he quietly put his name in the transfer portal.
Lira didn’t make any public announcements, but he received strong interest. As the next big decision in his life approached, Lira decided to reach out to UA coach Chip Hale. Something was pulling him back to Tucson.
“God brought me back here,” Lira said. “He had a plan for me, and I wanted to be a Wildcat. So I asked Chip if I could come back, and he gave me the opportunity.
“I'm glad he did. Nowhere else I would rather play than here.”
The idea of having to earn a starting spot appealed to Lira more than accepting a big offer elsewhere that essentially came with a lineup guarantee. So Lira went to work.
“I just really grinded,” he said. “Early mornings. Talked to my dad a lot about the type of player I wanted to be. I wanted no excuses why I'd never made it.”
Lira’s stepfather, Robert Mendonsa, is a critical figure in his life. He’s the only dad Lira has ever known, having become part of the family when Tony was about 3 years old.
Arizona's Tony Lira celebrates one of his three hits against Oregon State in the College Baseball Series at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona, on Feb. 14, 2026.
“He’s been great as a father figure,” Lira said. “Never had one until he came into my life. ... It’s been a blessing.”
An Air Force veteran and fitness enthusiast, Robert coached Tony when he was younger and continues to guide him. (Tony is the third youngest of the four children Alexandra and Robert raised and care for. All four are currently in college. “We have a reality show,” Alexandra joked.)
Robert has helped Tony prepare meals, plan workouts, tweak his swing and stay disciplined. Even over the holidays — with Tony’s birthday sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas — Lira resisted the temptation to overeat.
“It was a daily thing for me,” he said. “I just wanted to be the best player I could and hopefully come out and prove who I am.”
Lira has lost 20 pounds since last season, checking in at 6-2, 225. He not only won the starting job at first base but has proved to be one of the Wildcats’ most promising players.
Lira leads Arizona’s struggling offense with a .382 batting average and 18 total bases. He has one of the team’s three home runs — a 452-foot bomb to left-center on Sunday that cleared the national-championship banners at Hi Corbett Field. He ranks second on the team in hitting with runners in scoring position (.400), with runners on base (.438) and with two outs (.583).
“Tony’s been fantastic,” Hale said. “So happy that he decided to come back out of the portal and be a Wildcat.”
Inside pitch
– Arizona (1-7) faces Oregon on Friday, Vanderbilt on Saturday and UC Irvine on Sunday at Las Vegas Ballpark. They had a combined record of 21-4 entering Wednesday night. “The players are excited about getting up there and getting some really, really good competition,” Hale said. “I also think they realize that there's things we have to do a lot better to be competitive with these teams we're going to play. ... The conference is what the big goal here is. That's why we schedule the way we schedule.”
– Right-handers Owen Kramkowski and Smith Bailey are scheduled to take their normal turns atop the rotation Friday and Saturday. Hale wasn’t sure whether Collin McKinney would start Sunday. He’s one of 13 healthy pitchers on the 30-player travel roster. Hale said McKinney would pitch at some point over the weekend.
– Oregon ranked first nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (4.50), second in WHIP (0.85) and seventh in ERA (2.25) entering Wednesday’s games.
– Vanderbilt ranked second nationally with 25 home runs in nine games. Arizona has just 26 runs of any sort in eight games.
– UC Irvine had just one home run entering Wednesday’s game vs. Grand Canyon, but ranked in the top 11 in ERA, WHIP, strikeout-to-walk ratio and walks allowed per nine innings.
