Marist's Kyle Farmer most likely will be an infielder next year at the University of Georgia, but he is leaving an impression in high school as an ace relief pitcher.
The hard-throwing Farmer retired the final three outs in both games as Marist swept Lakeside-Evans 13-10 and 9-5 in the Class AAAA baseball quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
Farmer closed out the best-of-three series by striking out the final three Lakeside batters in the second game of the doubleheader for the War Eagles (28-4).
"Kyle is good, but all our seniors are good ... we've got a real good group," Marist coach Mike Strickland said.
In the opener, Marist rallied to win a slugfest. Farmer blasted a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give the War Eagles some breathing room.
Farmer moved from shortstop to the mound in the seventh and got into trouble by allowing the game-tying runners to reach base. However, he settled down to get the last three outs.
Lakeside's miscues came back to haunt them. Seven Marist batters earned walks during the game, and six of them scored. Marist's Jimbo Haneklau had three hits, while Patrick Sullivan knocked in three runs. Spencer Mitchell had a clutch single on an 0-2 count in the fifth inning that drove in the game-winning run.
In the second game, Marist's Andy Perez ripped a two-run double down the left-field line to break a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning. Perez is the nephew of former Marist baseball coach Dan Perez, who guided the War Eagles to two state championships.
"It's hard to think about baseball as a game of momentum," Strickland said. "Everything looked to be smooth and cool, but they came back on us.
"Lakeside has a great team, and we feel very fortunate to win this series."
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