|
Jeremy Farrell is a sophomore infielder for Virginia who will contribute a
journal to CollegeBaseballInsider.com in 2007. Farrell, a native of
Monmouth, N.J., who grew up in Westlake, Ohio, was named a Louisville Slugger
Freshman All-American after batting .324 with two homers and 32 RBI. He started
45 of the 48 games he played in 2006, primarily at third base. Farrell, who was
drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 41st round of the 2005 Major League
Draft, is the son of John Farrell, pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox.
Feb. 14, 2007
Kicking Off the
Season
We went down to Myrtle Beach this past weekend to open up the season. Going
2-1 against Elon, North Florida and Coastal Carolina - it was a good start to
the year.
The bus pulled out of Charlottesville just before 7 a.m. on Thursday, and we
arrived at the Springmaid Beach Resort around 2. It is typical to travel on
Thursday for a weekend series – we usually work out here at home and then hit
the road. But, because of the bad weather here in Virginia, we missed classes on
Thursday as well so that we could work out at Coastal.
Friday afternoon, we got things rolling against Elon. Despite a few
first-inning jitters, we were able to score early and often to defeat the
Phoenix 10-3. Sean Doolittle picked up right he left off last season as the ace
of our staff. It is definitely a confidence builder going into a weekend knowing
that your Friday night guy is going to give you a chance to win every time out.
On
Saturday, Jacob Thompson didn’t disappoint – baffling the North Florida hitters
with his hard 12-6 breaking ball. Out of the pen, Neal Davis, Robert Poutier,
Alex Smith and Jake Rule all threw the ball very well. Offensively, Beau Seabury
and Doolittle went deep as we scored in double digits for the second consecutive
day, beating the Ospreys 10-1.
Sunday’s result wasn’t what we wanted, but we definitely were able to learn
something, being in a close game on the road and losing 3-2. Coastal’s John
Mariotti ran his 2-seam in on righties and effectively used his hard slider and
changeup to keep our hitters off balance.
Anytime you go on the road, especially in the ACC, you’re going to run into
close games like this where each pitch and swing is magnified. It was good for
us to find ourselves in this situation so early in the season despite being on
the losing end. Matt Packer was impressive in his collegiate debut going
four-plus innings.
Our schedule this week is up in the air right now because of some snow we’re
expected to get in Charlottesville. Longwood and George Washington are up next
as we look to get back in the left column.
Go Hoos!
Jeremy Farrell
Previous Entry
Great Expectations (2/8/07)
(photo courtesy of Virginia Media Relations Office) |
