Red Bay’s Farris signs with Bevill State baseball program

Former Red Bay High School varsity baseball player Eli Farris is the latest baseball standout from Franklin County to make the jump to the collegiate ranks. On June 30th, Farris, winner of the Tigers’ team captain award his senior year, announced his decision to join the Bevill State Community College baseball program next season.

“It feels great. It’s a great accomplishment for me,” Farris said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play baseball after high school and in college.”

Red Bay head coach Donovan Hand, who took over the program before the 2022 season, said he’s happy for Farris and his family.

“We’re excited for him and his family. It’s a good opportunity,” Hand said. “It just goes to show that a lot of hard work pays off. That’s what he wanted to do when I first came here—he wanted the opportunity to play college baseball. Now he’s getting the opportunity to do it.

“I know it’s a dream come true for him, but it didn’t come true overnight. He had to put the work in and I’m proud of him for that,” he added.

Hand also believes Farris can serve as a spotlight for others in the program.

“He'll be a big loss for us next year, but at the same time it’s a great opportunity for him. It’s a good thing for our program, too,” he said. “It gives us some notoriety because we have other kids that want a chance to play college ball, too. He’s the first one to break through that barrier for us to go to the next level and play.”

Since Hand took over the Red Bay program, Farris has been a mainstay and a leader.

“He’s stayed the course. He won our team captain award this year, and he’s been our guy,” Hand said. “He’s really helped us. He’s the only older guy that’s been in the program in (Hand’s) three years, and he’s been very consistent for us.”

Hand said Farris has been asked to make a lot of changes during his playing career at Red Bay, but he was always willing to do what was best for the team.

“He’s had a lot of change going on while he’s been playing,” Hand said. “When I got here he was a catcher. He may have caught one game last year and none this year. We moved him to left field and pitcher, and obviously it’s paid off for him.

“You’ve got to compliment him for accepting change and accepting new roles that we’ve given him and just running with it,” he added.

Farris was a key player for Red Bay during the Tigers’ historic run to the AHSAA Class 2A baseball semifinals this past season, their first semifinal appearance since 1987. He appeared in all 30 games for the Tigers, batting .384 with a .491 on-base percentage. He hit three home  runs, eight doubles, knocked in 22 runs and scored 23 runs. On the mound, Farris made 13 appearances and finished with a 3-3 record, two saves, and a 4.70 earned run average. In 76 inning pitched, he allowed 20 hits while striking out 30 batters. For his efforts, Farris was named a Class 2A All-State Second Team outfielder and was a Franklin Free Press All-Franklin County First Team selection.

At the high school level, Hand said, Farris’ ability to play both in the field and pitch was a major asset for the Tigers, but at Bevill State, Farris can excel by concentrating on one aspect of his game.

“He’s got a good fastball, a good arm, and a really good pitcher’s body,” Hand said. “Like any high school player he wants to play in the field and play every day. At our level he was able to do that, but going forward it’s an opportunity for him to excel as a pitcher.

“When you go into doing something full time and buy into it, which I believe he will—(Bevill State coach) Steve Woodward does a great job with pitchers—he’s got a very good opportunity to be very good,” he added. “He’s got a lot of potential, a very good arm, so we’ll see what happens.”

For Farris, he believes his drive will push him to excel in the next stage of his baseball career.

“My determination and my work ethic, I think, will help me to be successful,” Farris said. “My parents have instilled in me a pretty good work ethic. I’ve always worked hard at my game and went above and beyond. 

“Not a lot of people saw the extra work that I put into the game,” he added. “There have been late nights up at the field with the lights on, keeping people awake, and the cops have come up there to try and get me to leave.”

Farris, whose decision to go to Bevill State was mostly based on the coaching staff there, said he’s under no illusions about the situation he’s heading into.

“I figure it’s going to be different—it’s going to be really different,” he said. “It’s not going to be what I’m used to, being an older guy and always being a part of the Red Bay program. I’ve been with this team since I was pretty young.

“It’s a new coach at Bevill, who came in about midway through this past season, so I figure he’s going to be learning just as much as we are,” Farris added.

As Farris transitions from the high school game to college ball, one lesson he’ll take from his Red Bay days is to persevere through the difficult times.

“You can’t let bad days or a bad season ruin the game for you,” he said. “My eighth and ninth grade years we went 1-19, you know? So you can’t let that affect your game or the rest of your career. You’re going to have bad seasons and whatnot. You just can’t let the little things or bad times affect you.”