Michael Lev
| Arizona Daily Star
Former Arizona baseball pitcher James Farris, who helped the Wildcats win the national championship in 2012, died Sunday night, Aug. 17, after battling cancer.
Farris, 33, had entered hospice care last week in his hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas, according to a family friend who organized a GoFundMe for the family.
Farris was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer earlier this year. After retiring from baseball following the 2017 season, Farris became an HVAC technician. He married in 2022. He and his wife, Madeline, had a son, Gatlin, 2.
Farris came to Arizona in 2010 from Highland High School in Gilbert, where his parents lived for a time.
By 2012, he had established himself as one of the Wildcats’ weekend starters.
Then-UA coach Andy Lopez — after surveying some of his team leaders — handed Farris the ball in Game 2 of the 2012 College World Series finals. The Wildcats had won Game 1 and had a chance to clinch their fourth CWS title.
Farris allowed one run on two hits in 7⅔ innings. The Cats defeated the Gamecocks 4-1.
“I’m very thankful for those guys giving me an opportunity,” Farris told the Star in June. “I didn’t get to pitch in the Super Regional or in Omaha. … So I was definitely itching to get in there and be a part of something special.”
Farris would pitch two more seasons at Arizona. He finished his UA career with an 18-14 record and a 3.93 ERA. He struck out 247 batters and walked only 65 in 320⅓ innings.
The Chicago Cubs selected Farris in the ninth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. He spent three seasons in the Cubs’ organization and one in the Colorado Rockies’ farm system, where he reached the triple-A level in 2017. Farris recorded a 3.12 ERA and had 220 strikeouts in 184⅓ innings in four minor-league seasons.
“James is a special young man, and we’re praying for the best,” Lopez told the Star just before the start of this year’s College World Series.
The Farris family’s GoFundMe remains open for donations.