In sports you’re always looking for people who have it. The “it” that separates good from great, and stars from superstars.

The Arizona Wildcats‘ ace pitcher Kurt Heyer has a healthy dose of It.

Scroll down for Jerryd Bayless’ strikeout.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

When you’re rebuilding with young players you want to see potential stars. Anybody can develop into a contributor, but you’re not going to win big without big-time players. UA basketball fans have hope that a return to prominence is on the horizon because of the play of freshman Derrick Williams.

BatCat fans should feel just as good about the future of Kurt Wolfgang Heyer.

Friday night’s stat line said it all. Eight-and-two-thirds innings, two earned runs, 14 strikeouts and just one walk. And this wasn’t another game with Northern Colorado. This was the same Washington State team that took two of three from ASU a week ago.

After the game I had to wait my turn as Heyer got his picture taken with the Girl Scout troop in attendance. When you see his youthful energy you’re reminded that, oh yeah, this is a 19-year-old kid who just happens to throw a baseball really fast.

Heyer said he didn’t want to come out of the game but he was happy his roommate, Augey “Big Bird” Bill, was able to come in and get the save.

It was the type of starting performance that easily brought back memories of Preston Guilmet’s 2007 season when he posted a single-game high of 15 strikeouts on the way to being named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.

Guilmet came at you from straight over the top; Heyer has a ¾ arm angle. Guilmet would attack the bottom part of the strike zone and then get hitters to chase his split-finger fastball in the dirt. Catcher Dwight Childs would spend a good portion of his night blocking pitches coming in on a hop. Heyer doesn’t force Jett Bandy to get nearly as dirty but he has just as impressive a command of the strike zone. Did we mention the 14-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio on Friday?

After the game coach Andy Lopez said Heyer is further along than Guilmet was as a freshman. Heyer has more velocity than Guilmet did as a rookie, and Kurt’s second pitch is more advanced.

Perhaps the best news for the fans in the stands is Heyer is not a pace-around-the-mound kind of guy. He’s always standing on the rubber and ready to go. Who doesn’t love a two-hour-and-15-minute college baseball game?

Heyer said he was aware of his strikeout total and he wanted number 15 to finish the game. He did not have a running mental total of his pitch count but said he felt fine and wanted to go the distance. You have to admire his competitive fire but when it comes to the toil on his arm I’m going to worry for him. 130 pitches is 130 pitches and it’s a well you don’t want to drink from too many times.

I understand it’s hard to pull a guy who’s still hitting 92 on the gun. I know that the Cats don’t exactly have a dominant bullpen. I realize that no one wants to interrupt greatness.

All this is not to say that Heyer needs to strike out 14 every game and land on this year’s All-America lists. I fully expect there to be some speed bumps as young Kurt makes his first pass through the Pac-10. A bunch of ranked teams are still to come so don’t be shocked if Heyer’s ERA doesn’t remain just a hair above 2.

But whatever happens the rest of 2010 shouldn’t keep anyone from dreaming about what the next two years have in store. We’ve already seen enough to know that It is there, and It will be fun to watch.

Get in line behind the Girl Scouts.

- – - – -

It’s Game 1 of the Phoenix/Portland series in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Blazers are up by three with 12.2 seconds left. Former Wildcat Jerryd Bayless steps to the line to try and seal the victory.

Clang.

Clang.

How did it make you feel?

It didn’t bother me at all. If you have a favorite pro team you have to get used to rooting against ex-Cats sometimes. If you can’t stand the Spurs you want Richard Jefferson to have an off night, but normally you don’t feel good about it. This was different.

I’ve been wondering how I would I feel about Bayless as his NBA career progressed. Now I know: I don’t.

It’s not that I have anything against him personally. I wasn’t stomping around and cursing the day he declared for the draft. It’s just that we don’t have any ultra-fond memories of his eight months on the UA campus. He didn’t really do anything. Sure he scored a lot of points but the Cats didn’t win a thing with Bayless leading the way. No marquee victories. No NCAA tournament wins. Not even a single win against ASU.

That’s always been my thing with early-entry players. Go ahead and take the NBA money, just have enough competitive pride to do something at the college level first.

Carmelo Anthony? Enjoy that fat paycheck. Kevin Love? Cha-ching! Mike Bibby? See you at the jersey retirement ceremony.

Jerryd Bayless? Eh.

Just how open is this conference race?

ASU & UCLA? The sign says it all.
Photo by Deirdre Hamill/The Arizona Republic

ASU’s stumble raised the eyebrows and hopes of a number of teams in the rest of the league. With Cal staying sweep-happy do we now have a four-team race in the Pac-10? Or are the Bears and Beavers just fooling themselves while we wait for the mammoth ASU/UCLA showdown in two weeks?

And what about a young Arizona team returning to the stadium where it holds a 20-5 record?

Oregon (21-11 / 4-5) at UCLA (26-3 / 4-2)
The Bruins’ two wins at OSU last week earned UCLA a #1 ranking in a couple of polls. Oregon’s two wins at Stanford earned the Ducks their first Pac-10 series victory since their baseball resurrection.

Stanford (15-13 / 4-5) at OSU (20-8 / 3-3)
If the Cardinal wants to be included among the good half of the Pac-10 they need to make a statement this weekend. If the Beavers want to maintain contact with the front runners they can’t afford to lose another series at home.

USC (15-17 / 2-7) at ASU (28-3 / 6-3)
The Sun Devils have already clinched a winning overall record. There’s no way they lose at home to the last-place Trojans…right?

Washington (18-13 / 3-3) at Cal (20-10 / 6-3)
As we disused last time Cal needs to bank more wins this weekend because it looks like a schedule recession is coming.

WSU (19-11 / 3-3) at ARIZONA (23-9)
The Cats are feeling a lot better about themselves after a three-out-of-four road trip. The Cougars are downright giddy after taking a series from ASU for the first time ever, ever, ever.

The stretch drive starts right now for the Wildcats. Of the next 20 games the only ones away from home are a three-game set at struggling USC and two single-game non-conference tilts at ASU.

After righting the ship at Washington and Gonzaga the UA has a very real shot at getting into the NCAA tournament, but to get there the Cats can’t waste winnable home games. You also don’t want to lose games to fellow bubble teams and WSU would certainly qualify. In fact, every Pac team except USC is still holding out hope it can win enough games to earn an invite to the Big Baseball Dance.

Last weekend Kurt Heyer showed no ill effects from the head shot at Cal. Kyle Simon pitched the game of his life on Sunday. The middle-of-the-lineup trio of Jett Bandy, Steve Selsky and Robert Refsnyder are all hitting .400 with an OPS of 1.000 or better. Arizona’s best players look primed to lead the team on another hot streak.

But then you go back to the freshman thing. Did the young Cats get out all the jitters in Berkeley? Or is there a wall around the corner?

No one ever said growing up in the Pac-10 was easy.

The series of the week in the Pac-10 did not disappoint, but it was overshadowed by one startling result.

(UNWARNING: Arizona Wildcat fans will be much less nauseous this week.)

ARIZONA won two of three at Washington. Scores: 7-2, 2-10, 9-1
The Cats were a lot more at home on the road this week, beating the Huskies twice and throwing in a bonus win at Gonzaga.

Cal won all three at USC. Scores: 16-9, 7-1, 4-3
I guess the Bears didn’t take too kindly to getting swept by ASU. Cal hasn’t lost since and has won eight in a row.

Oregon won two of three at Stanford. Scores: 5-2, 9-6, 1-2
This would have been the surprise of the weekend if not for what Wazzu pulled off.

UCLA won two of three at OSU. Scores: 1-4, 3-1 (16 inn.), 8-2
Huge win for the Bruins. Does this make them the new team to beat?

"Wait, I thought you were going to
order the wins!"
Photo by David Kadlubowski
The Arizona Republic

WSU won two of three vs. ASU.
Scores: 6-5, 7-11, 9-5
Say what now? I said the Devils would be able to name their score. I expected them to name more than one win.

So the road team won four of the five series and the only road team to lose was the unanimous #1 team in the country. Go figure.

Only three weeks into the Pac-10 season and we already have a Circular Reference: Arizona beat Washington who beat WSU who beat ASU who beat Cal who beat Arizona.

This is good, and not just in an it’s-always-good-when-ASU-loses kind of way. In the same way the 2009 Pac-10 football season was the most exciting in years, it’s good to have multiple teams with a realistic shot at winning the title.

ASU only lost one Pac-10 series all last year. Does dropping two in Pullman mean the Devils aren’t as good as we thought they were? Or, to continue the football analogy, is it going to be like USC losing an early game to OSU or Washington and then steamrolling everyone else?

The updated standings:

USC has established itself as the worst team, but it looks like every other position will be a dogfight. Can Cal keep pace with the league favorites? The Bears get Washington at home next so they could very well keep their streak going but then the degree of difficulty goes way up (OSU and UCLA at home and road series with Stanford, WSU and Oregon).

CBCRDI time!

BAS = Baseball America
COL = Collegiate Baseball
NAT = National Collegiate Baseball Writers
USA = USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll
RIV = Rivals.com

We welcome a new team to the rankings as the Wazzu Coogs snuck into one poll. Oregon went rank-free for the second straight week to drop off the list and Stanford is in danger of joining the Ducks in banishment.

Cal sets an all-time CBCRDI record with a 40-point jump, which is impressive, even if the scoring system is only two weeks old.

They say time heals all wounds. It looks like four months was enough time for Arizona fans to forgive the Wildcats for the Holiday Bowl.

We won’t know for sure how many people jumped off the trolley until the 2010 ticket sales numbers are in, but a few thousand fans spent their Saturday showing they have moved past 33-0 and they’re ready to soak in the optimism again.

How do you say GRONK! in Samoan?
Photo by UAsports.net

It was a relaxed and positive atmosphere at Arizona Stadium as the UA football team took part in its final scrimmage of spring practice. The crowd (6,000 people according to one report) was treated to more than just a football practice.

I love that there were family-friendly events a full two and a half hours before the start of the spring game. Eat some barbeque, meet Max Zendejas and Lance Briggs, play some games with the kids, take in the scrimmage, and get autographs of the current players. You could plan an entire Saturday around the UA spring football game and that’s the way it should be.

Hopefully incoming A.D. Greg Byrne sees the potential of the spring game as a must-see event and makes it even bigger. Tailgating should be expanded and encouraged. Toss some t-shirts into the stands. Keep the drawing for a season of luxury suite tickets (I hear the guy who won last year really enjoyed himself).

The college football season is just too short to hold a grudge against your team. The spring game is the final oasis before the long desert summer and Wildcat fans drank it up. When you saw the size of the line waiting for Nick Foles’ autograph (he was the only one with a table and chair besides Mike Stoops) you never would have guessed you were looking at a guy who threw for a whole 28 yards in San Diego.

As for the scrimmage itself, it’s not about trying to dissect plays and stats and declare which parts of the team are going to be strong and which will struggle. I remember a few springs back watching Willie Tuitama throw horrible passes to receivers who couldn’t catch. There was nothing to show that Sonny Dykes knew what he was doing and the UA offense didn’t look like it was going anywhere. Where Tuitama and company went was into the record books with about every passing record in school history.

So don’t overreact to Foles only completing seven passes for 74 yards (that’s more than the Holiday Bowl!). The spring game is about looking for individuals showing the potential for greatness, and that’s how the crowd correctly responded.

Joe Perkins, the Tommy Frazier of defensive backs
Photo by UAsports.net

When Ricky Elmore broke through for two early sacks, the crowd cheered. When Juron Criner hauled in each of this two touchdown receptions, the crowd applauded. When Joe Perkins and Trevin Wade pulled off the rarely-successful interception-return-option the crowd issued its resounding approval. When Taimi Tutogi showed hands, speed and attitude on the same 73-yard play the crowd went wild.

As exciting as Tutogi was, Nic Grigsby is still Arizona’s best option at tailback. Keep the guy healthy and you’ve got a true game-breaker back there. Unfortunately keeping the guy healthy remained difficult as an aggravated hamstring limited Grigs to just one carry (and one self-tackle).

The half-full response to the sluggish offense is the intentional use of a vanilla playbook. The half-empty side says a veteran offense should be able to dominate an inexperienced defense no matter what flavor you use.

The reality is we weren’t going to see if the offense has improved until the regular season anyway. When the Cat receivers successfully beat press coverage we’ll know things are better. When more red zone trips result in touchdowns (Hello, Taimi!) we’ll know the right coaches and players are in place.

Until then we’ll have to settle for watching our guys make big plays on a beautiful spring day.

We forgive you for the Holiday Bowl.

(Just don’t let it happen again.)

More coverage of the spring game:
AG’s Observations and Opinions

Brad Allis’ Big Play breakdown

My Twitter page with live tweets from the game.

There’s nothing like your first time.

The Arizona Wildcats hope they’ll be able to say that about winning on the road after a trip to Seattle.

As far as TWIT-Pac, if you look at the national rankings it’s a three-team race this year, and the results of the opening weekend support that claim. ASU, UCLA and OSU are the front-runners, which makes this week’s series between the Bruins and Beavers the first huge showdown of the season.

What will also be interesting to watch is all three of these teams could end up with a resume worthy of hosting a regional. The thing is, the Pac-10 never gets three regionals. It’s a big deal when we get two. But with perennial host Fullerton having a down season could the Pac-10 hoard all the western regionals?

Wind, kick, and deal!

"More road games?!"
Photo by David Kadlubowski
The Arizona Republic

ARIZONA (20-8 / 2-4) at
Washington (14-11 / 2-1)
If the Cats can survive this weekend they’ll be in decent shape with 15 of their final 23 games back at comfy Kindall/Sancet. The UA game times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday and all three games will be on 1290 AM radio in Tucson.

ASU (26-1 / 5-1) at WSU (15-10 / 1-2)
Oregon was surprisingly competitive with ASU last weekend. I expect this one, however, to be a name-your-score series for the Devils.

Cal (17-10 / 3-3) at USC (14-14 / 2-4)
The Trojans are the Anti-Arizona: 4-7 at home but 10-6 on the road.

Oregon (19-10 / 2-4) at Stanford (13-10 / 3-3)
After winning their first Pac-10 series the Cardinal have lost five out of six games.

UCLA (23-1 / 2-1) at OSU (18-6 / 2-1)
The series of the week will decide who gets the inside track in chasing down Arizona State. Is the Bruins’ midweek loss to Fullerton a sign their momentum is starting to fade?

You can’t win a series in the first game but I think the Wildcats’ weekend could be lost if things don’t go well Friday night.

The big question mark is pitcher Kurt Heyer. Is his head OK? He says he won’t have any trouble bouncing back but if you get kicked off the horse you can’t know for sure if it’s going to affect you until you’re back in the saddle.

The other side of the equation if getting the UA’s league-leading bat attack back on track. Washington checks in with the worst team ERA in the Pac-10 (6.07) so you would think that’s a good sign, but the Huskies did just fine against WSU, allowing only 10 earned runs in 30 innings. The UW bullpen was especially tough, giving up two earned runs in 13 2/3 innings of work, a 1.32 ERA.

It’s a pretty simple formula. Jump out to an early lead, get Heyer deep into the game, get the road-win monkey of your back, and set yourself up for a strong weekend.

It’s never too late for your first time.