mbrown@sunmulti.com
Now, Garrett Brown is the ace of Westfield baseball pitching. For two years of Hornet runs to the GISA AAA finals, Brown was the capable third-fiddle behind Caleb Weaver and Brandon Bailey. What he did in this supplemental role, however, was enough to catch the attention of college scouts in Tifton.
On Thursday, the son of Paul and Brooke Brown signed a baseball letter-of-intent with ABAC with the goal of not only being an ace starter for the Golden Stallions but also eventually following in his father’s footsteps in the agricultural field.
“He’s been a part of 75 wins with this baseball team,” said Westfield head coach Rob Fitzpatrick while addressing the student-body in the school gym. “I remember him as a freshman, little guy, when we were playing in the Border Wars tournament in Alabama and I said ‘I’m going to take him.’ He pitched in the first game his freshman year and did pretty well.
“He continued to grow, get bigger and stronger. His velocity increased.”
In fact, Fitzpatrick reported that the radar gun clocked Brown’s fastball at 87 and 88 mph. at one of his recent outings. The coach added that Brown put on one of the best starts he’s ever seen in a high school game when he beat Deerfield-Windsor Saturday at the Tattnall Square tournament. In that game, Brown was only up to 60 pitches in the sixth inning.
As a junior, Brown logged 33 2/3 innings with 45 strikeouts against five walks.
“He’s the kind of who’s around the zone,” said Fitzpatrick. “He makes it truly difficult on the opponent.
“He deserves what he’s getting. It goes to show if you put the hard work in, it pays off. He’s got a great family. They’ve been a big part of what we do out here.”
“I have been working hard to get where I am,” said Brown. “I’ve been playing since I was 7 years old. I started pitching when I was about 10.”
In the last decade, Brown has developed a two-seam and a four-seam fastball, a change-up and a slider.
“They had good composure when they were on the mound,” said Brown about pitching behind the likes of Bailey and Weaver, the starters of Westfield’s state championship series sweep of Deerfield-Windsor his sophomore year. “They were senior leaders last year. They kept us up last year, and I had good confidence in them.”
Brown has also had Fitzpatrick as his high school coach all four years, and the coach not only gave him that first start in 2010, but also used him during the playoffs in a series against eventual champion First Presbyterian Day.
“That really set me off for pitching in my high school career,” said Brown. “It really made me want to be on that bump more.
“(Fitzpatrick) means a lot to us as a team. He disciplines us real good, making sure we’re staying between the lines and doing what we’re supposed to do.”
It is only the middle of March, and a month and a half remains in the regular season with Region 2-AAA games beginning March 15. Brown knows he will get the baseball for Westfield’s major contests, and that will be more true when the postseason starts.
“I think we have a pretty good season ahead of us,” said Brown. “We have eight seniors, pretty much all of us in the lineup. We just have to keep the pride down about winning the state championship and worry about making it this year, and as we get closer get our minds set right.”
Jeff Kilgore is in his first season as ABAC’s head baseball coach after being an assistant in Tifton for two years.
“I think we are getting a quality, well-rounded player on the field and off the field,” he said. “Garrett is going to take our pitching staff to the next level. I expect him to come in and battle for a starting position in conference. He controls the zone well, and does a good job of controlling his emotions … has good mound presence.”
“I’ve always liked ABAC, always wanted to go there,” said Brown. “My dad’s in agriculture (a crop consultant), and I’ve always followed him.”
Though it is possible ABAC will become a four-year athletic program while Brown is there, he said he hasn’t thought much about where he will be after two years (it is still a junior college now and will most likely be for his freshman season in 2014) of baseball. He plans to obtain a bachelor of science degree in biology and further study the agricultural fields.
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