Less than nine months after stepping away from his baseball career in an effort to save his terminally ill mother, Joey Carney made his return as a college pitcher on Saturday.
The senior right-hander pitched three scoreless innings to get the win as San Francisco rallied for a 7-6 victory over Northern Colorado in the conclusion of a game that was halted by rain Friday at Benedetti Diamond on the USF campus.
Carney donated about 40% of his liver to his mother, Paula, in June. She was afflicted with end-stage liver disease caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Paula, 50, died less than a month after the procedure. At first, she appeared to be doing well, but then suffered a series of setbacks — internal bleeding and, near the end, liver failure.
On Saturday, before he threw his first pitch of each inning, Carney looked to the sky and kissed the cross he keeps on a necklace beneath his uniform.
“I can’t describe the words,” his father, Dale, said when asked what it was like to watch Joey pitch again. “I see him on the mound, and in my mind I’m seeing a little white dove with him. Sorry, I’m just very emotional.”
Carney entered the game with the bases loaded, no outs and San Francisco trailing by a run. One run came over on a sacrifice fly, but the rest of the way, he hit a batter and gave up a walk while striking out two and not allowing a hit.
A converted outfielder, Carney last year was the first player in at least 18 seasons to make San Francisco’s team after showing up at an open tryout. Converted to a pitcher because of his strong arm, he thrived out of the bullpen early last year and converted all five of his save opportunities after becoming the closer two-thirds of the way through the season.
His mother, though ailing, missed only a few of the team’s 56 games.
Carney became his mother’s best chance at survival when he demanded to be tested and was found to be a match after other potential donors were eliminated.
Saturday’s win was the first of his college career. San Francisco rallied with two runs to tie the score in the eighth inning, then won in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off hit by Matt Sinatro that scored Brady Bate.
mike.hiserman@latimes.com
Twitter: @MikeHiserman
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