One of the Arizona Wildcats’ most effective arms during their run to the College World Series a year ago won’t be able to participate in the start of the upcoming season due to an injury to that same appendage.
Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star is reporting that right-hander Chandler Murphy will be out an undetermined amount of time while recovering from an arm injury that also held him out of fall practice.
Murphy was 7-0 with a 4.29 ERA in 2021 as a second-year freshman, striking out 62 batters in 63 innings. He made eight starts, including five innings of one-run ball against UC-Santa Barbara in the NCAA regionals, and in April he threw five hitless innings of relief in a win at ASU.
A possible Friday starter for the UA this season, his absence at the outset means the five pitchers most likely to be in the starting rotation are senior lefty Garrett Irvin, junior righty Quinn Flanagan, sophomore righties Dawson Netz and TJ Nichols and freshman Anthony Susac. Anthony Susac is the cousin of Arizona catcher Daniel Susac, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year who has been named to numerous preseason All-American teams.
Arizona opens the 2022 season Feb. 18 against Kansas State at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas, where it will also face Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The home opener is Feb. 22 at Hi Corbett Field against Grand Canyon, followed by a 4-game series Feb. 24-27 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Wildcats will play 13 games in the first 19 days of the season, including eight in 10 at the start, which will gave their starters plenty of opportunities to get stretched out for Pac-12 play when it begins March 11 at Cal.