FARMINGTON -- The last three seasons have brought windswept change across the landscape of Farmington baseball as the Cardinals have migrated into the 5A West.
Transitional Rumors
Three years ago in the spring of 2014 Farmington was competing in their last season in 4A-1 baseball and softball while making preparations to move into the 5A West. Towards the end of the 2014 baseball season rumors circulated among Farmington fans that freshmen weren't going to be allowed to play varsity in 5A as the Cardinals prepared for transition.
Farmington baseball coach Jay Harper put the squelch on that sort of idle chatter confirming that freshmen can compete at the varsity level in 5A, while emphasizing other significant changes would create an impact on the program.
"The only thing that changes is that we go to double-headers on Friday nights," Harper said. "We'll have to kind of teeter off our [junior varsity] games towards the end of the season cause we're playing those double-headers on Friday nights for pitching, but in the regular season we'll be able to play during the week regular games and JV games."
At the time, Harper anticipated a lot of JV games would go to Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. His preparations included contacting other coaches to confirm what he had researched that the Cardinal staff needed to do. Harper felt the Cardinals were going to be able to compete in 5A.
In preparation for the quantum leap, both the Farmington baseball and softball teams initiated an off-season program capitalizing upon one of the school's great training resources, the Farmington indoor facility.
5A West Challenges
Farmington's first season of 5A baseball in 2015 was challenging.
With the new conference came a new format. No longer were the Cardinals playing a junior varsity game after each conference contest. Instead, 5A West teams played double-headers on Tuesdays and Fridays. This format became a challenge when Farmington's second pitcher, sophomore Tyler Gregg, was unable to throw due to injury.
"We have one really good arm in senior Keaton Austin," Harper said early in the 2015 season. "Our No. 2 guy is hurt... This year will be different for our kids during the season with two 7-inning games, it's a different mindset. The schedule affects our mid-week games. You can't pitch your best guy cause you've got to save him for Friday. The schedule helps develop pitching, but also, if you don't have it, it exploits it."
With the Cardinals not placing in the top four regular season teams, they missed the post-season with no district tournament.
Breakthrough Season
Farmington baseball experienced a breakthrough season in 2016, finishing with a 19-9 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the 5A West with Gregg triumphantly returning to the mound after Tommy Johns surgery. The Cardinals qualified for the State 5A tournament, losing 8-4 to Sylvan Hills.
Fastforward To 2017
More changes were in store for 2017 with the Arkansas Activities Association lumping Farmington, Alma, Clarksville and Harrison into a blended district with 6A schools Greenwood, Russellville and Siloam Springs for regular season play. The schedule eliminated double-headers and restored JV games following the varsity contest and mandated a post-season district tournament among all 5A West teams at the end of the regular season.
Cardinals Excel
Thus far, Farmington has proven themselves up to the task, beating Siloam Springs, 10-4, on March 7 by limiting the Panthers to a 6 for 29 performance at the plate. Ben Silvis started and threw 82 pitches. Derek Perona finished on the mound, needing only 18 pitches to close out the game as a reliever. Farmington lost, 11-10, at Stillwater, Okla., the No. 1 ranked Oklahoma 6A team, on March 10.
Farmington defeated Greenwood one of the top-ranked 6A teams, 11-5, on March 14, after rallying from a 4-0 deficit. Cade Fenton earned the win in relief of starter Drake Vineyard, pitching five innings and allowing 2 hits with 7 strikeouts.
Ryan Larkin started the comeback with a leadoff single and a stolen base in the third inning. Blake Putnam drove Larkin in with a single followed by Kelton Price with a double. Tripp Cheney's 2 RBI single narrowed the gap to 4-3. The Cardinals took the lead in the fourth inning. Trenton McChristian (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) followed a leadoff single with a steal. Larkin moved him to third and he scored when Putnam (3-for-5 with 3 RBIs) singled. Gregg walked and Price (3 for 5) drove in the go-ahead run to push Farmington into a 5-4 lead. The Cardinals scored 6 runs in the seventh inning to seal the road win.
On March 16, the Cardinals beat 5A West rival Clarksville, 13-0, to improve their record to 6-3 going into a tournament at Gulf Shores, Ala. where they went 3-1 during spring break. Since then, Farmington has won three straight games and continues to took strong.
Sports on 04/05/2017