Posted: 2:54 PM Jul 28, 2012
Reporter: Jacob Young

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Last June was a life changer for Andrew Faulkner. Until then, the recent South Aiken grad was set to pitch for South Carolina and start his college career.

Then, he was a professional baseball player.

Faulkner was drafted by the Texas Rangers last summer, and now that journey brings him home to Augusta, where his Hickory Crawdads play the GreenJackets this weekend.

For ballplayers constantly on the road, it's always special to return home. That doesn't mean the learning experience won't continue, though.

Facing major league hitters is a whole different ball game, and Andrew has found that out.

"Learning how to pitch to a lot of different hitters, especially guys from all over the world, it's hard to read their swings," Faulkner said. "That's been one of the adjustments and probably learning to pitch more to contact."

It's been an interesting season for Andrew. The first half was the toughest stretch of his young career, at one point giving up at least one earned run in ten of twelve appearances.

But recently, he's been dominant, even pitching seven innings of one-run ball last week. The whirlwind continues, and he's learned a lot already.

"You gotta learn how hard it is actually. It's not a cakewalk like a lot of people think. I feel like I started off pretty rough, but here recently it's come together a whole lot better."

The best part of the deal. Faulkner gets the start Sunday, so the hometown fans actually get to see their star take the field.

First pitch in that one will be 5:35.

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