Jarvis speaks out about allegations

Arizona State pitcher Jason Jarvis on Tuesday disputed claims by a former Sun Devil team manager that his grades are not legitimate.

Mikel Moreno, a graduate manager on last year’s Sun Devil squad, recently told the Tribune several players took tests for Jarvis, including former Sun Devil Brandon Macias, now at South Mountain Community College.

Macias recently told the Tribune he took “about three questions” of a 10-question online quiz last year for Jarvis. Macias said he was doing Jarvis a favor because Jarvis was having car trouble and couldn’t make it home in time to start the quiz.

He said Jarvis finished the quiz.

ASU is conducting an internal investigation of the baseball program for academic fraud and other possible NCAA rules violations.

In an e-mail sent to several media outlets, Jarvis said he wanted to clarify “rumors that have been going around.”

“Recently there have been several inaccurate statements made to the press by former ASU baseball manager, Mikel (Moreno) about the academics and legitimacy of my grades as well as some of my teammates.

“I am an easy target because it’s no secret that I have had academic problems throughout my entire school career. I was diagnosed with a learning disability when I was 6 years old. I worked very hard in high school to graduate with an overall GPA of 3.0 so I could attend college.

Even though it’s much harder for me than other kids, I remained eligible through my freshman year at ASU and I have again met all the NCAA requirements for my sophomore year. Now my grades are being called into question by none other than a disgruntled former manager, who lost his job at ASU recently.

“I have never even once had a conversation about school or school work with Mr. (Moreno). This person knows nothing about my classes or my grades yet I and my teammates have been called into question. Soon I must attend a hearing to defend myself against false charges.

“The process of taking online study courses and tests is well documented by others who take these classes at ASU. I am registered with the DRC at ASU and it was on the advice of my academic advisor that I study and take tests in this manner. However it is a possibility that my college career could be over because I followed the instructions of my ASU academic advisor.

“I love ASU, (its) baseball program and my teammates and I am sure I will continue to struggle with my academics due to my learning disability, but I am doing the best I can especially during a very demanding baseball schedule. Hopefully now the readers know the facts and not just what others say. ... I look forward to being vindicated.”