BUTLER TWP — Connor Ollio is spending this summer in a difference place.

At home.

The Butler graduate and University of North Carolina pitcher is not playing baseball over the next couple of months as he is resting his ailing arm.

“This will be the first summer I haven't been out playing baseball somewhere since I was 8,” Ollio said. “I'm not going to know what to do with myself.

“Maybe I'll work on my golf game or something.”

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound right-hander would rather be pitching.He started three games and picked up saves in two others for the Tar Heels this spring. Ollio was 2-3 with a 5.06 earned run average.His ERA was at 3.79 before he was charged with five runs in a third of an inning, starting UNC's 12-2 NCAA Super Regional loss to UCLA. That game ended the Tar Heels' season at 28-27.“Obviously, I didn't like the way the season ended,” Ollio said. “But I'm not making any excuses. My arm felt OK that day. UCLA is one of the best teams in the country and they got me.”Ollio began complaining of soreness in his pitching arm last fall. He told the UNC team doctor, got a shot of cortisone and pitched through the fall season.Come spring, he noticed he didn't have the same range of motion in his right arm as he did in his left.“I got an X-Ray done and it was OK,” Ollio said. “I saw the orthopedic doctor at North Carolina and I couldn't do any further damage to it, so the decision was for me to pitch and get the arm checked out at the end of the season.”Ollio struck out 28 in 32 innings and yielded only 28 hits. Opposing batters hit just .233 against him, but he had 19 walks.“My control wasn't where it usually is,” he said. “That goes back to the range of motion. At times it felt like I was pushing the ball up there.“Still, before that last game, my ERA was among the team's best and my WHIP was solid. I can't complain too much.”Since the season ended, Ollio has been back and forth between the UNC team doctor, orthopedic specialist and Dr. Patrick DeMeo of the Allegheny Health Network.Ollio just returned to Butler this week and visited DeMeo, an expert in the field.“He did an MRI and his diagnosis is that my elbow bone is chipping and rubbing against the tendon, causing inflammation,” Ollio said. “That would explain the lack of range of motion.“Dr. DeMeo suggested a cortisone shot and rehab for six to eight weeks. That's probably going to be the course of action I'll take. That way, I can be ready to pitch in the fall.”How the Tar Heels use him next season is another issue.Ollio did some starting and closing for the team this year.“We had two starting pitchers go down and both had Tommy John surgery,” he said. “Those guys would have eaten 60 to 70 innings for us.“I had to do what I could for the team. I prefer to be a starter, definitely, but the team comes first.”Ollio is carrying a 3.3 grade-point average as a statistics analytics major. He will be a senior next year in terms of academics, but has two years of baseball eligibility remaining.“My goal is to be a weekend starter next season, one of our top pitchers,” Ollio said. “Our team goal is always to get to the College World Series and win it. We want to win the ACC regular season title, then the ACC Tournament first.”He is uncertain whether he will play his final year of baseball at UNC.“I know that season's there if I want to use it,” Ollio said. “I plan to graduate (next spring), but I could take some graduate courses. I just haven't made that decision yet.”

Ollio