JC Cloney loves baseball. He hates watching it when he’s supposed to be playing .
Such was the case two weekends ago, when the Arizona Wildcats senior left-hander was held out of a three-game series against Utah. Arizona ended up being swept.
“It sucked,” Cloney said. “It was definitely tough.”
He had been battling an arm issue. All parties involved agreed it was in Cloney’s best interest — and the team’s — to give him extra time to rest and rehab.
“I think that week off really put everything behind us,” Cloney said. “We’re good to go and ready to throw this weekend whenever called upon.”
Cloney returned to pitch against Stanford last week. He said he experienced “normal soreness” after that start, which ended in a 4-3 loss. Barring a setback, Cloney will start Friday’s opener of a critical three-game home series against Washington.
That’s a significant development for a UA team suddenly in desperate need of victories. No. 19 Arizona (28-15, 9-12 Pac-12) has lost six straight conference games. When healthy, Cloney has been as reliable as any pitcher in the league over the past two seasons.
“He’s our rock,” first baseman JJ Matijevic said of Cloney, who’s 7-0 this season and 15-4 in his UA career. “When he’s pitching, you just get that feeling that he’s going to throw strikes, that he’s going to dominate hitters and we’re going to come out with a win.
“It’s a big confidence boost for the team.”
Cloney first encountered tightness in his biceps on a cold night in Pullman, Washington, on April 7. He lasted only one batter against Washington State before having to leave the game.
Cloney returned a week later and pitched six strong innings in a 5-4 victory over Oregon. But to avoid any lingering issues, Cloney, the coaches and the training staff decided to sit him the following weekend.
Cloney allowed three runs in 6ª innings against the Cardinal, striking out a season-high eight batters. He threw 103 pitches, reaching triple digits for the fourth time this season. A scout recently timed his fastball at 91 mph.
After debating deep into last summer whether to continue playing baseball, Cloney elected to return for his senior season. He now has a good chance of being selected in next month’s MLB draft.
He intends to throw everything he has into however many starts he has left at Arizona.
“When I leave here, I would like the fans to know, everyone to know, that every game, I treated it like my last,” Cloney said. “You never really know when the day might come where something happens and you’re done.”
Right-handed compliment
Washington (24-17, 10-8) is scheduled to start three right-handers against Arizona, and that might be a good thing for the Wildcats.
Arizona is batting .330 against right-handers compared to .297 against lefties. All three of Stanford’s starters threw left-handed, and the UA managed only six runs in the series.
None of the Cardinal’s starters — Kris Bubic, Andrew Summerville and Chris Castellanos – threw particularly hard.
“They were mixing speeds really well,” Matijevic said. “They were hitting their spots. They did a good job of keeping us off balance, keeping us guessing. We weren’t taking really good ABs.”
Washington’s listed starters — Noah Bremer, Jordan Jones and Joe DeMers — have a combined record of 14-11 and cumulative ERA of 3.09.
Inside pitch
- Left-hander Cameron Ming (5-1, 2.43) is schedule to start Saturday for Arizona. Right-hander Cody Deason (3-2, 3.52) is penciled in for Sunday.
- Washington has won 10 of its past 13 games against Arizona, including four straight series victories.
- The Huskies enter this weekend having committed 23 errors, the fewest in the nation. They rank first in the country with a .985 fielding percentage and have allowed only nine unearned runs. The Wildcats have surrendered 36 unearned runs.
- Despite the offense’s recent struggles, Arizona entered the weekend leading the Pac-12 in batting average (.317), slugging percentage (.457), on-base percentage (.412), runs (358), hits (478), doubles (101), total bases (688) and walks (208).
- Heading into Thursday night, Matijevic led the league in average (.395), slugging (.638), hits (70), doubles (22), RBIs (47) and total bases (113).
- Arizona leads the Pac-12 in attendance, averaging 3,108 fans in 24 games at Hi Corbett Field.
