Former Tucson rivals Hardy, Wilhelmsen meet again
Friday night in Texas, old high school foes J.J. Hardy and Tom Wilhelmsen faced one another as Hardy’s Baltimore Orioles beat Wilhelmsen’s Texas Rangers. Hardy singled off Wilhelmsen in a nine-run rally in the seventh inning. It was the seventh time the former Sabino High shortstop batted against the ex-Tucson High Badger pitcher. He has two hits. They were rivals in 2000 and 2001, when Sabino and Tucson were two of Tucson’s top baseball teams. Hardy signed with Arizona and Wilhelmsen with ASU, but both bypassed college for pro contracts. Remarkably, in his 12-year MLB career, Hardy is batting .455 against Hall of Fame pitchers. He is 3 for 7 lifetime against Randy Johnson, 5 for 10 against Greg Maddux, 3 for 6 against Pedro Martinez and 4 for 10 against John Smoltz.
