When the Farmington High School baseball team took the field on Monday afternoon, it was the first time the Tigers had been on their home diamond since last season. That was a memorable season, too, with Farmington winning the Class 4A state championship 31 miles away at Target Field.
But here they were, hosting Eastview in the
season opener for both teams. This was a third shot at starting the season for
the Tigers, who had been scheduled to play Rochester Mayo and Rochester John
Marshall the previous week ... but as we know, spring in Minnesota can play
havoc with outdoor events.
Even 24 hours before the first pitch, Tigers coach
Jon Graff wasn’t certain that the weather or the field conditions would be
sufficient to play.
“I left here yesterday after dragging everything and it was
like, ‘It's gonna be close,’ ” he said after Eastview defeated Farmington 7-4
in a game dominated by sterling pitching.
Eastview
starter T.J. Egan, a lefty who has signed with the University of Minnesota,
struck out 12, walked five and gave up three hits in five innings. Farmington’s
Zach Dohrmann, who will play next season at North Iowa Area Community College,
struck out nine, walked none and gave up three hits in four innings.
Farmington
was held without a hit until the bottom of the fifth, when singles by Mason
Conrad and Kyle Hrncir were followed by a double from Connor Weed. That helped
make the score 3-3 before Eastview locked up the win with a four-run sixth.
Farmington
has 10 players returning from the state championship team, resulting in plenty
of optimism for the new season. A banner celebrating the 2021 title was
unveiled below the big scoreboard in left-center field before the game.
“I was just happy
to be out here and get on the field,” said Hrncir, who was the winning pitcher
in the Tigers’ 12-10 victory over Park in last year’s 4A title game. “We've
been stuck in the gym so a little rust showed but it’s definitely good to be
out here. It was a nice day.”
The
temperature was 56 degrees when Dohrmann’s first pitch was called for a strike at
4:28 p.m., preceded by four Farmington students standing behind home plate and knocking
out a wonderful acapella national anthem. Fans sat in lawn chairs, some under
blankets and winter coats, some hanging onto their dog’s leashes. High school
boys sat in the metal bleachers in t-shirts and shorts.
The sky was
blue, big clouds blocked out the sun at times and cleared a path for warmth at
other times. The grass was greenish, the trees had buds.
The Tigers had spent a few days in Florida this
spring, working out and scrimmaging and escaping the Minnesota spring. Before
Monday, however, they had not been able to practice outdoors in more than a
week.
“I think it showed
a little bit,” said Graff, not having to mention his team’s five errors
(compared to four hits). “We’ve got work to do but let's find out what those
things are.”
Hunter Frost
and his Farmington senior classmates know that the defending state champions,
with a large number of returning veteran players, are on every opponent’s
radar.
“Everybody's
out to get us like,” he said. “We're obviously the number one ranked team in
the state and I like how we’ve got a target on our back. We’re going to see the
best games out of everybody. I just like that competition.”
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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