By Jimmy Allinder
St. Joseph
Baseball is a team game, and there isn’t a better illustration of that than when Mike Farr is on the pitching mound.
Farr, a Metuchen native, returns for his senior year at Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen after recording an 8-5 win-loss mark his previous two varsity seasons. On the surface, that’s pretty average.
However, an examination of his other numbers reveals better insight as to how effective Farr really is. In 83.1 innings, the 6-foot-4 right-hander averaged a strikeout per inning, achieved a 2.10 earned run average and gained the winning decision in four 1-0 games (although he lost his fair share, too).
Looking at it another way, St. Joe’s, which was 16-12 overall, might not have finished above .500 without Farr on the mound. Even he admitted his record wasn’t a true reflection of his effectiveness because he was on the losing side of so many 1-0 games.
“I don’t believe my record portrays the whole picture of what I’ve accomplished,” Farr said about his sophomore and junior seasons. “I was involved in so many close games, some of which we didn’t win.”
Although Farr has worked with BioPitch, which develops pitchers’ skills, especially on the high school level, he says it’s what he’s learned from his high school coaches that have helped him most.
“It began when [Steve] Bucchignano was the coach here and has continued since [Mike] Murray inherited the job last year,” Farr said. “I always had the drive to improve, but their confidence in me has motivated me to stay with it.”
Farr is quite capable of pitching beyond high school, perhaps at an NCAA Division III school, but he opted to make this spring his last playing baseball. He has achieved a 3.50 grade-point average and plans to major in business when he heads to the University of Colorado following graduation.
Because of his commitment to academics, Farr said he prioritizes school before anything else but not to the point he isn’t able to put in the necessary work to improve his pitching.
“I’ve learned there has to be balance with playing varsity baseball and completing schoolwork,” he said. “Both require discipline and a willingness to work hard.”
In addition to his former and current high school coaches, Farr said his parents, Karen and Ed Farr, his brother, Zach, and Ryan Harvey from BioPitch have been in his corner for his entire career.
Farr said the highlight was last year when he threw a complete game no-hitter against Woodbridge High School in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament quarterfinals. Naturally the score was 1-0.
Edison
The following Edison High School winter season athletes were recognized for making the second term honor roll:
Boys’ basketball — Dominic Kurtyan, Miara Joy Mandap (manager)
Girls’ basketball — Victoria Nelsen, Bianca Newsom
Girls’ bowling — Raleigh Gough, Jitarth Sheth, Samantha Salzone, Evelyn Peralta
Cheerleading — Katya Kose, Lissete Rodriquez, Jessica Abney, Michelle Abney, Amanda Bastian, Colby Cleary,Gina Durkin, Ashley Montuoro, Jenna Papa
Ice hockey — Chrisian Osma
Swimming — Rahsmi Dogra, Matthew Furry, Marissa Mellinger, Robert Kopac, Matthew Liu, Olivia Tomasula, Raymond Chin, Samantha Matson, Sabien Corrette (manager)
Indoor track and field — Nasiem Chandler, Kevin Morales, Silas Okoth, Sherwin Yu, Kevin Zong, Connor Dempsey, John Kipnis, Lorenzo Lopez, Amit Patel, Augustino Lie, Sandeep Ramesh, Jaso Mraz, Angel dema Ala, Arianna Chakraverty
Wrestling — Matthew Johnson.
Bishop Ahr
Sarah Hardy successfully defended the 200-meter IM she won as a freshman at the NJSIAA’s premier swimming event, the Meet of Champions, March 2.
Hardy won the semifinal race in 2:06.69, which was more than four seconds slower than her winning time last year. However, the sophomore rebounded in the final by clocking 2:04.26 to edge Trinity Hall’s Caroline Gmelich by less than a second.
Hardy has two more years of high school eligibility but is already being courted by a number of major colleges, including the University of Notre Dame, Stanford University and the University of Georgia.