Mountain Ridge pitcher Tommy Lowe battles elbow, diabetes on way back to the mound – AZCentral.com

Tommy Lowe, 18, a pitcher for the Mountain Ridge High School baseball team in Glendale, holds on to dreams of playing in college after discovering that he has Type 1 diabetes. He has received a scholarship from New Mexico State University.

Tommy Lowe, 18, is a pitcher for Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, who found out he has Type 1 diabetes. He practices his pitching motions at the school, Tuesday, April 4, 2017.(Photo: Tom Tingle/azcentral sports)

Tommy Lowes senior season stat line coming into the week was two innings pitched, four strikeouts and a 10.50 earned run average.

But hell take that, knowing this is just the beginning of a final year at Glendale Mountain Ridge that appeared lost a month ago when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and was down to 138 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame.

An All-Arizona pitcher last season when he won nine games, had a 1.84 ERA and won two state tournament games on his teams run to the 6A final, Lowe has seven regular-season games and the playoffs still to make it memorable.

Lowe wasnt sure hed take the mound at all after he found out he had diabetes while treating a stretched ulna nerve in his right elbow.

At school, there is a girl in one of my classes who has diabetes, Lowe said. She was just messing around and said, Hey, let me test your blood. So she tested my blood and it wouldnt read on her monitor. And shes like, Thats either too low or youre above 700, and Im like, What?

I didnt feel bad. Nothing felt different. I went to the doctor for my arm that day. And we told him about it. So he goes, All right, for precautionary, lets check your blood. He reads it and he goes to me, You need to go to the hospital right now. Your reading is off our charts, and theirs goes up to 700, as well.

Lowe said that he had been up to over 170 pounds, but when he went to the hospital, his weight was 138.

He said he is back up to 165 now.

But its been a slow climb back to the mound.

He has to regularly monitor his blood-sugar levels. He has learned to give himself insulin shots each day, injected into his stomach. He has to make sure he doesnt go above 75 grams of carbohydrates a day. He cant drink soda with sugar anymore.

I got a diet soda in the dugout right now, he says, because that has zero carbs.

I used to drink a lot of soda. Im drinking diet cherry Pepsi now.

Lowe said the insulin has helped him regain weight, but its been a season-long adjustment, not only trying to get his elbow healthy but keeping the diabetes under control.

When I first got on insulin and my blood sugar was leveling out, or at least trying to, Id be up and down a lot. When my blood sugar gets really high, my vision gets super blurry. I never had a problem with my vision before. Sometimes, Ill be out here wearing cheaters, because I cant get a prescription, because it changes every 20 minutes.

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Lowe has had his emotional ups and downas he watched helplessly from the dugout, as junior left-hander Matthew Liberatore (5-0, 0.68 ERA) has taken over the ace role on the staff.

Lowe, who logged 57 innings and faced 255 batters, throwing what he said he believes was 1,100 pitches his junior season, felt pain in his pitching elbow during a winter game.

He said the injury is in the ulna nerve. He said there is no tear, no need for surgery. It is stretched/strained, Lowe said.

The diabetes, his father, Floyd, said, has made the elbow slower to recover.

Its one of those things that if he did not have diabetes, his body would have already healed, said Floyd, a teacher at Glendale Community College who is retired from law enforcement. We didnt know that. Thats why the arm has been a problem.

Lowe felt invincible his first three years in high school. He pitched 47 innings his sophomore year on varsity, going 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA.

I always had a rubber arm, I could throw forever, Lowe said.

Since he was finally medically cleared to pitch last week, he has been ordered to throw no breakingpitches, only fastballs and change-ups. One of his big out-pitches was his slider. But this he feels will make him a more cerebral pitcher, relying on location and change of speed and pitching angles in his windup.

Coach Lance Billingsley said he is hoping that Lowe will be healthy enough to start a game as the playoffs near.

Lowe was clocked at 84-85 mph in his outing last week, when he gave up four hits and three runs in an inning in a 4-2 loss to Glendale Apollo. Last season, he was clocked in the high 80s.

He pitched for the Sun Belt team in the summer. He threw some for Mountain Ridge in fall and winter leagues.

I think his body wasnt recovering and he was pushing it physically, Billingsley said. By any account, hes lucky to even be here. For us to worry about him pitching, thats minute compared to what hes gone through.

Whats more important for him and his future is to be healthy enough to pitch next year.

Last year, Lowe accepted what he calls basically a full-ride from New Mexico State, in order to help his twin sister, Beth, become a certified nursing assistant. With almost all of his college expenses taken care of, thats relief for his parents, who can focus on helping Beth get through college.

About a foot shorter than her brother, Beth goes to Mountain Ridge in the morning and takes nursing classes in the afternoon, getting straight As, to get a jump on her career.

Hes proud of his sister, Floyd Lowe said. Being in the spotlight in baseball, he could think, Im the man. But he respects what she is doing.

Lowe isnt giving up on his senior season.

He is hoping to make an impact in state. By then, he believes he will be starting, his velocity will be up, and hell be getting hitters out.

Im getting stronger, getting better, he said.

Suggest human interest stories to Richard Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him at azc_obert

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Mountain Ridge pitcher Tommy Lowe battles elbow, diabetes on way back to the mound - AZCentral.com