By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
ASHVILLE — Teays Valley coach Mark Colburn knew he was putting his young sophomore right-hander in a tough spot.
Tasked with starting his first varsity game against a Canal Winchester team that would go on to earn a top 10 seed in the 48-team Central District tournament, Matt Farmer threw four innings and allowed five hits and six earned runs.
“I knew we were throwing Matt into the fire when we called him up to start a varsity game against a very good Canal Winchester team,” Colburn said of the 2021 non-league game. “I was impressed with the way he competed on the mound, and I felt we didn’t get a couple of called third strikes that partially led to him giving up those runs.
“When I talked to Matt and his father after the game, I told Matt that he pitched well, especially considering the circumstances, and he replied right back, ‘No, it wasn’t good enough’. I knew right then that we had a kid we could push and who would keep getting better and better.”
Colburn has watched Farmer blossom into a dominant ace, who posted a 9-3 record this year and set a new single-season program record with a microscopic 0.59 ERA.
Farmer was recognized for his banner season by earning The Don Rowland Award, which is presented to the most outstanding senior baseball player in Pickaway County.
“There are some great names on that trophy and to have my name added to that list is a tremendous honor,” Farmer said. “It’s an honor that would not have been possible without the help of my teammates, coaches and family who have backed me and helped me through everything. This is an individual award, but also a team award that honors the season we had.”
Farmer had a solid junior campaign when he posted a 5-2 record with a 1.92 ERA and also batted .250 in 24 at-bats. Taking the loss in a sectional final against Gahanna, however, left a sour taste in Farmer’s mouth and provided plenty of motivation during offseason conditioning and workouts.
“I’m an ultra-competitive person, so even though I had a good season as a junior, losing that last game really left a bad taste in my mouth and I knew I needed to put in a lot of work during the offseason if I wanted to have a really good senior season,” Farmer said. “I knew that I needed to increase my velocity, have better command of my off-speed pitches and really work on my hitting, because I didn’t have a good season at the plate.
“I worked on getting stronger in the legs and I lost 25 pounds that helped with my flexibility, mobility and speed, which made a high difference on the mound and at the plate. I also worked on the mental end of the game, reading different books and watching what different guys said about how they competed mentally.”
The hard work paid off for Farmer, who checked his opposition to 47 hits over 71 and one-third innings pitched. The senior right-hander walked just five batters, hit another and struck out 85 en route to throwing six complete games and a no-hitter at Hamilton Township.
He also elevated his game at the plate, batting .361 with a .524 on-base percentage.
Farmer, who was honored as Mid-State League Buckeye Division Player of the Year and made second team All-Central District, credited his mentality and command for the success he had on the mound.
“I want to dominate the hitter and either strike them out or get really weak contact and get a ground out to one of our infielders,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence in all of pitches, starting with my two-seam fastball that has some movement to it.
“Honestly, my off-speed pitches are probably my best pitches, especially the changeup and curveball. A lot of people struggle to locate those pitches, but I can locate them wherever they need to be, and they have good action to them and go in different directions.”
Another component in that success is his battery mate, fellow senior Landen McFarland, who has caught Farmer since he was nine years old.
“Landen suffered a knee injury during football season and he played through it all during football season and then all through baseball season. Everyone knew Landen was hurt, but he battled his butt off and blocked virtually everything,” Farmer said. “When I get ahead 0-2 in the count, I want to throw an off-speed pitch in the dirt to get a strikeout and I know I can trust Landen to catch it or block it and get the throw down to first base and complete the strikeout.
“Like I said earlier, I’m ultra-competitive and I can get a little too serious and wound up before a game, so Landen will say something stupid to me that gets me to crack a smile, laugh and settle into the game. He’s the only teammate who has ever been able to do that, so I am going to miss him going forward. His friendship means a lot to me. We are best friends.”
Tasked with replacing most of their lineup from a season ago, the Vikings came a long way since the preseason to finish second in the league with a 15-7 overall record. Teays Valley earned the 16th seed in the 50-team Central District tournament and opened tournament play with a 4-1 win over St. Charles.
“Our scrimmages were some of the worst baseball that I have ever been part of and, as seniors, we talked about coming closer together, because we didn’t want to have a losing record in our final season at Teays Valley,” Farmer said. “As we grew together and started to play together, so did the younger guys on the team.
“Our Spring Break trip to Tennessee was also important for team bonding and bringing us closer together. We had fun playing baseball, getting to see some different places, eating and hanging out together as a team.”
The Vikings traveled to perennial district power Lancaster for a sectional final that became legendary. The game was suspended at 2-2 after 11 innings played.
Hayden Wells had the key two-run double for the Vikings, who struck out 23 times but managed to strand 18 Lancaster runners on base during the marathon game that took two days to complete.
“That game was something like I had never experienced before,” Farmer said. “We really struggled hitting against Lancaster’s ace (Isaac Cooperrider), but we didn’t get down on ourselves and we remained behind each other and were really loud in the dugout.
“Ben France, Landon Vandegrift and Brody Mann pitched their butts off, Jeremiah Fabbro made two great plays in left and we just found a way to keep grinding and avoiding disaster.”
Colburn knew he had a trump card in his back pocket when the sectional final resumed the following day, as he could turn the ball over to Farmer on two days rest.
“We limited Matt to around 70 pitches in our sectional final and I was calling around that night to make sure it was legal to move him from designated hitter to pitcher,” he said. “It was going to give us a big advantage, because we would have our ace going against probably Lancaster’s third-best pitcher.
“I had to go to Matt and his family then and ask if it was okay if he pitched, because he has a future in college, and I did not want to risk that for him.”
The decision for Farmer was an easy one.
“Heck yes, I wanted the baseball,” Farmer replied to the question. “I knew I would take some ibuprofen and I had enough adrenaline going through my body that it was probably the best I had felt pitching all season. My teammates were super excited when Coach Colburn told them that I was pitching and that got me going even more.
“I knew the way our earlier pitchers had done against Lancaster’s seven-eight-and-nine-hole hitters that I would come out and just dominate them. I struck out the side in the 12th and got in a groove early.”
The Vikings scored three runs in the 13th inning without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of three hit batters and a pair of errors, to take a 5-2 lead.
“I knew the game was over right there and that we were going to advance to districts (for the first time since 2015),” Farmer said. “I came out and struck out a couple of more batters and got a ground out to end the game.
“It was amazing to celebrate with my teammates and beating a team like Lancaster, which typically plays for a district title every season.”
The Vikings had another tough task in a district semifinal against defending state runner-up Grove City.
Farmer matched zero for zero with Zak Sigman, who announced the day after the game that he had committed to play for Ohio State, through six innings.
Grove City finally broke the stalemate with a run in the seventh to end the Vikings’ tournament run.
“It was an incredible atmosphere to pitch in because the stands were packed, people were standing everywhere, and the music was blaring between innings. I stepped on the mound and said, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is amazing,” Farmer said. “They were the defending state runner-up, and we weren’t expected to be there, so we played loose, with nothing to lose.”
“It was a great game. We made big plays, and they made big plays. We were a play away a couple of times from taking a 1-0 or 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, we fell short in the end, but we gave it everything we had.”
Farmer will be going to “his second home” next season when he plays for Division III power Marietta College.
“My grandparents live in Marietta, my mom grew up there and my dad grew up in Pennsylvania and pitched and played baseball at Marietta,” Farmer revealed. “I’ve stayed down at my grandparents so much and watched so many games down there that Marietta feels like my second home.
“I had some good schools looking at me, but it was an easy decision to go to Marietta. It’s a community that rallies behind the baseball program, they have great players and they have a great staff that will push me to become a better pitcher.”
When Farmer moves to the first settlement of the old Northwest Territory to begin the next chapter of his life, he will take many fond memories from his time suiting up in the blue-and-gold.
“It’s been a blast,” he said. “We had a good season, we made a lot of memories and we had a lot of fun together.
“Hopefully, we are leaving something for the returning guys to take and run with.”
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