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

 

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Great Expectations (2/8/07)

 

(photo courtesy of Virginia Media Relations Office)