A decade has passed since Arizona won the College World Series, but the competitive fire still burns within Kurt Heyer and Konner Wade.
Michael Lev They’ve pitched in independent leagues, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Italy. From Modesto to Mazatlán, Trois-Rivières to Tacoma, Sioux City to Sioux Falls.
Heyer owned the opposition in Omaha; Wade took his game to an even higher plane on the sport’s biggest stage. Arizona had a talented, well-rounded team. But it all started with them. "It's thrilling. I tell people all the time: The day that I don't get butterflies or jitters is the day I retire. And I haven't had that feeling yet."
"The best strike-thrower in the game," former UA coach Andy Lopez said."I coached for 38 years. I was a pitching coach. I had Josh Fogg. I had Mark Melancon. Guys that pitched in the big leagues. "You can't make it through life with just a fastball and slider," Heyer said."I had to develop a cutter and another off-speed pitch.
When the Wildcats reconvened in January 2012, Wade came down with a case of the yips. It’s something every baseball player dreads. For a pitcher, there’s no place to hide."That was definitely a struggle," Wade said."It's something that I hadn't really dealt with before. Just came back and didn't really know where the ball was going.
Here’s the real kicker, though: Wade walked only three batters in 35 innings — one fewer than in that relief outing against NMSU. "I'd have flashes of really good games, and then the next game I'd be pretty bad," said Wade, who’d pitch one more season at Arizona before the Colorado Rockies took him in the seventh round of the 2013 draft."Then I'd have a couple of good ones and bad ones.Farris’ day onThe great irony of Arizona’s 2012 championship is that neither Heyer nor Wade started the clinching game.
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