Farmington Bats Hold Sway At Home

FARMINGTON — The Cardinal baseball team was not about to let Ozark turn their brand new field into Hillbilly haven during the 4A North Regional tournament.

A week after defeating the Hillbillies 3-1 on their home field in the district semifinal on April 29, the teams met again in a semifinal on May 7, this time with state seeding on the line, and Farmington won again, 8-2.

Like the previous week, rain forced cancellation of tournament games on Friday and Saturday leading to a double-header on Tuesday with the opening game of the state tournament looming even larger on the horizon.

At stake was a firstround bye at state, a crucial component when calculating pitching rotations for the big dance. The loser would play on Thursday in the first-round at state with the winner drawing either a number one or two seed and not having to suit up until Friday.

Jacob Thompson and Josh Mueller walked to load the bases in second inning spurt. Levi Strope then stepped up and delivered a two RBI single to break a scoreless tie.

Spencer Boudrey was hit by a pitch to keep the bases loaded and Taylor Burba doubled down the third base line to drive in three runs pushing Farmington out to a 5-1 lead.

Tripp White singled to drive in a run for Ozark in the third and a throw to first was dropped allowing a twoout run in the fifth inning.

In the sixth, Farmington starter Keaton Austin remained strong allowing one hit but no runs on six pitches. The Cardinals responded by producing more run support in the bottom of the inning. Strope brought in two runs with a triple, then scored himself on Boudrey’s single into left field.

Ozark then went to their third pitcher and Cole Yell was able to get Burba to hit into a double play. Still, Farmington was ahead, 8-2, and Austin polished off the Hillbillies in the seventh with two strikeouts, the second of which ended the game with the bases loaded.

According to Farmington coach Jay Harper the Cardinal philosophy is very simple.

“Win the inning, we’re talking about winning the inning we’re playing. If you look at the whole big picture of a ballgame, it overwhelms people, but if you look at it one inning at a time, these kids can grasp that — that’s what makes them successful.” Harper said.

“When I took this program over 10 years ago, we wanted to get to a certain point where we would compete for a district championship, compete for a regional championship, and compete for a state championship,” Harper said.

The 2013 Farmington baseball team was in contention for each title, having made the district and regional finals and qualified for state.