RallyNorth.net

Farnham looks to finish with a bang

Friday, April, 11 By David Willis
Staff writer

While most of his teammates were warming up for the season with batting practice at local indoor baseball facilities, Andover's P.J. Farnham was preparing at a more high-profile location.

"I got to take batting practice down at the Red Sox (spring training) facility in Fort Myers," said Farnham. "It was amazing to be on the same field that the Red Sox use."

During a trip to Florida, Farnham's father, Paul, arranged for his son to hit with some of the Boston minor leaguers with the help of Andover resident and ESPN scout Dave Geaslen.

Back in Andover, the three-year starter will now be counted upon to be one of the leaders of the team that lost nine starters from last season's team that won its fourth consecutive Merrimack Valley Conference title.

"I do feel some extra pressure," said the senior. "I want to set a good example for the younger kids. I want to have my best year as a high school player."

Last season the speedy leadoff man hit .324 with 18 runs and 13 RBIs, good for fourth on the Golden Warriors. He followed that up by hitting .417 with 27 runs and 18 RBIs for the Andover American Legion squad.

During the winter he worked on his speed by participating in indoor track, which he felt was necessary after sitting out the family sport, football. His father, two uncles and cousin were All-American receivers as Brown.

"I just lost interest in football," he said. "My grades were suffering, and I knew I wasn't going to play football in college. I wanted to focus on baseball and my grades.

"It was hard because I went to some of the football games and watching them throw the ball and knew that could have been me having a good season. But I don't know if I would have gotten into Merrimack without getting my grades up."

Farnham does not have to worry about college, since he has already signed a scholarship to play baseball down the road at Merrimack College. He said his scholarship is with 80 percent of his college expenses.

But for now, he is focusing on the challenges of the new season, including moving from right to center field to replace three-time All-Scholastic Dan Godefroi, now an outfielder/pitcher at Georgetown University.

"I have had a limited amount of time in center," he said. "It's a different angle off the bat and you have to cover more ground. But I have to be confident and coach (Ken) Maglio said I am the only person he would want to replace Godefroi."