The Arizona Wildcats needed someone to stop the bleeding Tuesday night. Check that: They needed someone to stop the hemorrhaging.
Arizona’s pitching staff somehow had walked 17 batters against Grand Canyon. An 8-1 lead had turned into a 13-8 deficit. The Wildcats’ relentless offense put up five runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the score, at which point UA coach Jay Johnson felt he had no choice: He had to bring in Avery Weems.
Weems had pitched 3 1/3 innings two days earlier. But he was so efficient on that Sunday afternoon, throwing only 34 pitches, that he was able to bounce back.
The senior left-hander applied a tourniquet to the Antelopes. He allowed one hit — and no walks — in two innings to pick up the win in Arizona’s 14-13 victory.
The Wildcats wouldn’t be riding a four-game winning streak entering this weekend’s home series against Cal without Weems. He allowed only one run in that Sunday outing against Washington to earn his first save of the season. He didn’t issue a walk. He has been sharp and efficient at a time when Arizona desperately needed him to be at his best.
“I think he’s just really matured over the time that he’s been here,” Johnson said. “Development happens at different times for different guys. He’s … just somebody I trust from a makeup and character standpoint.”
Weems transferred to Arizona in 2017 from Yavapai College. The hope was that he’d provide similar production to the junior college left-hander who preceded him and wore the same No. 27 jersey: JC Cloney, a key starter for back-to-back NCAA tournament teams in 2016 and ’17.
Weems did not encounter immediate success. He went 2-3 with a 5.69 ERA in 2018.
Weems got in better shape in the offseason. He also worked extensively on his mindset.
A book borrowed from a friend of a friend — former Catalina Foothills High School and Arizona State softball standout Jackie Vasquez Theodorakis — helped immensely. Theodorakis had highlighted sections in “Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge,” by Karl Kuehl, John Kuehl and Casey Tefertiller. It was just what Weems needed.
“For three years, I pressed so hard to play professional baseball,” he said earlier this season. “I realized all that pressing wasn’t doing me any justice. It really put too much pressure on me.
“When I would fail, I wouldn’t necessarily crumble or give up, but it’s definitely harder when you don’t think you’re as good as you are. When you put all that aside and just go out there and play the game that you used to love, it makes it so much easier.”
Weems came into 2019 determined to make his last season his best. But it hasn’t necessarily been a smooth ride.
Weems had a 1.86 ERA entering the March 15 Pac-12 opener against Utah. He got rocked for six runs in two innings in a 21-10 loss (the only conference game the Utes had won entering Thursday).
Weems shifted to the bullpen full time and threw two hitless innings in a 14-10 win over New Mexico State, which leads the nation in runs. But Weems wasn’t effective in subsequent outings against UCLA and San Diego State, allowing six runs in 4 2/3 innings.
After the SDSU game, in which he surrendered the lead in the bottom of the eighth, Weems had a talk with Johnson. Weems felt he was doing all the right things; he just wasn’t seeing the results. Johnson implored him to stick with his routine and assured him the results would follow.
“You’ve just gotta keep playing the game, keep grinding away,” Weems said. “Sooner or later, things will come into place for you.”
It happened on the later side of things for Weems. But it beats the alternative.
“I just want to win,” Weems said. “Whatever my role — whether it’s starting, relieving, stopping, whatever you want to call it — I’m just going to go out there and do my job and put the team in the best position possible to win a baseball game.”
Arizona’s shortstop Jacob Blas turns a double play over Utah’s Isaac Deveaux at Hi Corbett Field, Friday, March 15, 2019.
Blas out for year
Sophomore shortstop Jacob Blas will miss the remainder of the season because of a knee injury, Johnson said.
Blas left the March 31 game at ASU after the first inning because of pain in his left knee and hasn’t played since. He elected to have a PRP injection in the knee, which has bothered him off and on since last season. It could take Blas several months to fully recover.
“He hasn’t really felt right,” Johnson said. “He made the decision last week that that’s what he wanted to do, which we fully support. We’ll get him back and healthy for 2020.”
Blas missed nine games earlier in the season while dealing with a personal matter. He finished 2019 with a .246 batting average and eight RBIs in 17 games. He hit .305 with two home runs and 28 RBIs as a freshman.
Freshman Dayton Dooney has taken over as the starting shortstop. While lacking the range of a healthy Blas, Dooney has been a force at the plate. He’s batting .308 with five homers and 22 RBIs. He has hit four home runs in Arizona’s past seven games.
Injuries have hit the Wildcats hard this season. Center fielder Matt Fraizer also might miss the rest of the season while recovering from a broken hamate bone. Promising freshman right-hander Bryce Collins has been out since March 23 because of strained forearm. He had an MRI on Thursday and won’t be rushed back if there’s any concern of reinjury.
“We’ve worked through some really significant injuries when you’re talking about your center fielder, your shortstop and arguably your best pitcher,” Johnson said. “That’s a lot to take off one team.
“These guys have just put their head down and continued to work. They’ve shown some perseverance, which we’ll have to continue to show with the difficulty of the schedule that we play.”
Inside pitch
- The 17 walks issued against Grand Canyon set a new school record. The previous mark was 16 against Miami in June 2008. UA pitchers walked 15 batters against ASU on March 31. The Wildcats’ average of 5.45 walks per nine innings ranked 255th in the country entering Thursday.
- Weems on Arizona’s comeback at GCU: “It’s baseball. Things are going to go sideways at some point. But I think we showed ourselves that we can fight back, battle back at any moment in time. And with a little bit of belief and a little bit of hope, we can go out there and win a baseball game.”
- After sweeping at Cal in 2016, Johnson’s first season, the Wildcats have lost 5 of 6 against the Golden Bears. Cal swept last year’s series in Berkeley, scoring 37 runs in three games.
- Cal junior first baseman Andrew Vaughn ranks in the top four in the Pac-12 in home runs (10), walks (31), on-base percentage (.519) and slugging percentage (.708). He’s projected to go No. 2 overall in Baseball America’s latest MLB mock draft.
