Central Michigan defeated Arizona on Wednesday night at Hi Corbett Field. The Chippewa who scored the winning run happens to be the youngest son of the Wildcats’ director of athletics.
CMU senior Zach Heeke walked to lead off the 10th inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single. His father, Dave Heeke, took it all in from a suite behind the plate along with his wife, Liz, his mother, Janet, and a handful of other visitors.
“It’s really cool,” Dave Heeke said during the game. “I love the fact that we can all be together.”
But you can understand if he had mixed emotions. Dave Heeke has been Arizona’s athletic director for three years. He spent the previous 11 years as the AD at CMU. He has been Zach’s dad from Day 1.
“When you’re close to people, you want them to do well,” Dave Heeke said Wednesday afternoon. “Every time they have a chance to make a play or when they’re at-bat, you want them to do their best.”
Heeke wanted his son to succeed. He also wanted Arizona to win. The situation presented quite a conundrum — one he will revisit when the Wildcats host the Chippewas again Friday night.
But Heeke so rarely gets to see Zach play in person that it’s worth the added layer of angst. Heeke was able to see Central Michigan open the 2020 season at UNLV earlier this month. Those opportunities don’t come up often.
“It’s the last go-round in our family,” said Heeke, who has three sons. “So I want to try to see as many games as I can of his this year. I’m trying to make some room on my calendar so I can do that.
“But I don’t have much of a chance. We’re 2,500 miles apart. It’s not an easy weekend drive. It gets tricky. And with the responsibilities that we have with the program here, it’s hard to get away. So it’s a real treat to watch him here.”
Heeke flew to Los Angeles on Thursday to attend Arizona’s men’s basketball game at USC. He planned to fly back Friday for CMU’s 1 p.m. Arizona Tournament game against Rhode Island at Hi Corbett, the CMU-UA rematch and the Arizona women’s basketball game at McKale Center. He’ll attend the Rams-Chippewas game Saturday morning before “potentially” returning to LA for the men’s hoops game at UCLA.
Zach Heeke played first base Wednesday and batted in his customary leadoff position. A multiyear starter, the younger Heeke entered this season with a .313 career average and a .463 on-base percentage. He went 0 for 3 against Arizona but walked twice and consistently worked the count after a first-inning strikeout.
“No matter who we’re playing, it’s fun to win games,” Zach Heeke said after CMU’s 4-2 win. “It’s always been a dream of mine when he came here that we were going to come and play U of A. I love U of A. It was cool to come out and beat U of A.”
CMU won the Mid-American Conference last season to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Chippewas were picked to win the conference again this year.
Zach is the second Heeke boy to play baseball at CMU, following oldest brother Ryan, a center fielder. Zach is set to graduate with a business degree and would like to work in sports in some capacity. For most of his life, he’s had a front-row seat to the world of collegiate athletics.
“It’s a great thing to be the son of an athletic director, because you see how much passion one person can have for a university,” Zach Heeke said. “My dad really portrays that. Wherever he is, he’s gonna love what he does. He loves waking up in the morning and going to work.
“He just kind of gave that to us, because I love waking up and going to practice. I love waking up and going to Central Michigan.”
Cats scuffling … on offense
UA coach Jay Johnson wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance Wednesday, especially at the plate, and let his feelings be known during an animated, 20-minute postgame address.
“I just don’t think we’re taking the caliber of at-bats that we hold to the standard around here,” Johnson later told the media. “There’s a lot of different reasons for that. Baseball’s a hard game. A few guys that are struggling with confidence that have had success before, we’ve gotta figure out a way to help those guys get back in order, mentally and physically, and get better for Friday.”
Arizona returned most of the production from the Pac-12’s most prolific offense, but the Wildcats’ bats have gone cold since their season-opening sweep against Albany. Arizona scored 38 runs in that three-game series. The Wildcats have 14 runs in five games since and have lost three of them. They scored three or fewer runs in four of those games, something they did only eight times last season.
Among everyday players, only three are batting above .300: Ryan Holgate (.467), Donta Williams (.393) and Austin Wells (.357).
“It just can’t be those three guys,” Johnson said. “We have guys other than them that are good players – they’re really good players. I think there’s some self-doubt, some pressing, maybe some external factors – they’re trying to prove themselves. We’ve got to get them contained back into a solid approach.”
Three of Arizona’s top hitters from 2019, Matthew Dyer, Dayton Dooney and Branden Boissiere, are off to particularly slow starts. The three are a combined 14 for 80 (.175). They collectively hit .353 last season.
Inside pitch
- Friday’s scheduled starter is left-hander Garrett Irvin (2-0, 6.30 ERA). He’ll be followed by righty Quinn Flanagan (1-1, 3.09). The starter for Sunday afternoon against Rhode Island is TBA.
- Johnson provided injury updates on three veteran right-handers who have yet to appear in a game this season. Sophomore George Arias Jr. (Tucson High) is out for the season because of an arm injury. The team is being cautious with junior Jonathan Guardado, who has been experiencing arm tightness. Graduate transfer Davis Vainer has a nonthrowing injury. He threw a bullpen session Sunday. “I think we’re close,” Johnson said, “but we’ve got to make sure he’s good to go.”
- Arizona ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in ERA (3.13) and second in strikeouts per nine innings (12.8). The Wildcats ranked 10th and ninth in those categories last season.
