After hitting below .250 for much of the first half of the season, Kyle Farmer has shot past the .300 mark. He has done it with a torrid hitting streak that has seen him hit safely in 19 of the past 20 games and knocked in 27 runs, many of them of the game-winning variety.
But don’t bother sending any bouquets or even congratulatory texts Farmer’s way. The last time that happened Farmer’s 16-game hitting streak was snapped, and the Bulldogs lost.
“I’m pretty much a don’t-talk-about-it, don’t-think-about-it kind of guy,” said Farmer, a sophomore shortstop out of Marist. “Baseball, it’s a game you have to honor, and to do that you have to honor its rules.”
Farmer is batting .302 as the Dogs (22-20, 11-7 SEC) enter this weekend’s three-game series against Arkansas. Georgia is coming off a 6-4 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday in which Farmer was 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Both of his hits came with two outs.
“It’s getting old, but when he goes, we go,” Georgia coach David Perno said. “That’s just the bottom line. He’s been going for about six weeks.”
Even when he wasn’t hitting for average, he was hitting in the clutch. Early in the season as Georgia battled against the nation’s toughest schedule, Perno called Farmer “the best .220 hitter in America” because of his penchant for coming through in a pinch.
Farmer’s recent streak is more in line with what Georgia saw from him last season. Farmer was named a freshman All-American after batting .340 and setting a school record for fielding percentage by a shortstop (.962).
Baseball is in Farmer’s blood. He grew up in Buckhead and cut his baseball teeth in the North Atlanta Youth Organization playing games at Chastain Park. Later he would compete for the East Cobb Yankees.
His father, Bryan Farmer, was an All-SEC pitcher at Ole Miss, and he had uncles who played in the SEC: Joe Gex at Ole Miss and Randy Metz at Georgia. Farmer’s dad was understandably proud a couple of weeks ago when Kyle hit .538 with a homer as the Dogs took two of three hard-fought games from the Rebels in Oxford.
Georgia has battled in close SEC games all season and managed to win four of its six conference series. It will be well-positioned for a postseason run if it can take another series this weekend against Arkansas.
“That’s why we’ve played a tough schedule like we have,” Farmer said. “Playing UCLA and Florida State and Tech and teams like that shows us what we need to do to beat these SEC teams. It’s starting to show now.
“We may be 22-20, but we’re playing like we’re 42-2.”
