NATCHEZ — The name Tony Conigliaro doesn’t ring a bell for Cathedral’s senior left fielder Brock Farmer but, unfortunately, the two have more in common being baseball players.

On the Green Wave’s opening day — in Farmer’s first at bat of his senior season — he swung and fouled a ball back into his right eye.

“When I got hit, the first thing I thought of was, ‘This isn’t good; senior year and I might not get to play,’” Farmer said. “When I got to the hospital I got stitches and…saw a facial surgeon (for broken bones).”

It came as a surprise to him when X-rays revealed Farmer would not need surgery, but what surprised Cathedral coach Craig Beesley was his recovery.

“Once we knew he could get his vision back, we were hoping to have him back in a month,” Beesley said. “He came back in about 10 days.”

After approximately one week, the swelling subsided and Farmer could open his eye. At that point his father, Gary Farmer, said he couldn’t read the “big E” on the eye test. After approximately one more week, Brock’s vision was back to 20/20.

Farmer returned to start in left field for the Green Wave, although he has not had the opportunity to debut on the mound this season. Beesley said the injury took Farmer out of the pitching rotation, hopefully temporarily. He now wears a cage over his helmet when he hits, and a metal mask to pitch.

“He was in the rotation, but injury set him back,” Beesley said. “He’s thrown some ‘pens and he’s ready to go.“

Farmer seemed like he was ready in his fourth game back against Parklane Academy Tuesday. He had 2 RBI in a 2-for-3 day at the plate, including a double.

“He hit the ball well in his second and third at bats,” Beesley said. “He stayed back and drove in some runs for us.”

Hitting sixth in the batting order, Farmer knows he will likely be coming to the plate with men on base. It’s his job to stay out of double plays and drive them in.

“I have to keep the ball in the air,” Farmer said. “Line drives, ground balls and I try to go backside and get them to the plate.”

 

Farmer is optimistic about his team’s season. The squad is made up of a core group of seniors, who Farmer says have grown up playing together since they were around 8 years old.

“We’ve played together a long time and we have a lot of chemistry together, Farmer said. “If we go out there and play like we used to, we’ll win some games.”

Beesley might be stunned by the quick turnaround of his outfielder and the circumstances of his injury, but he’s not complaining about having the extra bat in the order.

“I’ve been around baseball for 42 years and I’ve never seen that before,” Beesley said. “These kids have been playing together forever. Not only was it his first game on the season, it was his first at bat. You hate to see a kid lose his senior year.”

For now, Farmer has a scar above his eye, where his stitches were removed and some blood visible in the corner of his eyeball, but there is not apprehension when he steps up to the plate.

“ (In my first at bat) I got up there, I wanted to play,” Farmer said.