By Maurice Patton
COLUMBIA – Before Huascar Ynoa, there was Bryant Beranek.
Much like the Atlanta Braves’ right-hander, Beranek handled his business on the mound and at the plate Saturday — pitching a complete game five-hitter with eight strikeouts and getting Columbia Academy on the scoreboard with a three-run home run in an eventual 8-1 victory over visiting Evangelical Christian School to open the Division II-A state tournament.
With the win, the Bulldogs earned a berth in the state quarterfinal best-of-3 series as they’ll visit Christian Academy of Knoxville next weekend.
“Coach (Stephen) Fields came up before batting practice and said ‘you hit better when you pitch’,” Beranek said after the victory, which raised CA’s record to 32-7 on the year and set a school single-season standard.
It didn’t take him long to have an offensive impact. After Damon Toombs led off the second inning with a double and Tyler Stephens drew a walk, Beranek drove a pitch from ECS starter Parker Allen over the left-centerfield fence to stake himself to a lead.
“If I hit a home run, it gives me energy going into the next inning,” said Beranek, the Dawgs’ second-leading home run hitter with nine.
The Eagles (16-17) managed to answer in the next inning, as catcher Kenny Cox doubled and his courtesy runner scored on a Jake Baker sacrifice fly.
That, though, was all the visitors would manage offensively, as Beranek worked around a one-out double in the fourth and allowed just three baserunners over the final three innings.
“We got a couple of runners on late, but he made big pitches with runners on,” ECS coach Duke Williams said. “He just filled (the strike zone) up. I thought he pitched well all night.”
Columbia Academy added three runs in the fifth, taking advantage of singles by Landon Prentice, Max Ballard, Toombs and Beranek along with an ECS throwing error, then parlayed a Prentice base hit and another Eagle miscue into two sixth-inning runs.
“Lately we’d have a big inning and then take a break,” CA coach Richie Estep said. “We’d stop having good at-bats – have a lapse. We talked this week about having good at-bats, swinging at strikes, making the pitcher work. We told ‘em, let’s do it more than one inning. It’s been a focus for us, from top to bottom, let’s have good at-bats.
“You want to put that pressure on the other team, keep your foot down on the pedal, and that takes the whole lineup.”
Beranek went 3-for-3 to lead the Bulldogs.
“He’s a different hitter when he pitches,” Estep said. “I remember several games where we’ve won a one-run game and he’d have ‘the’ hit. When he pitches, he just seems to hit better. And when he connects, it seems to go.”
Toombs matched Beranek’s three hits, with Prentice and Ballard each adding a pair of hits in the win.
The schedule for the upcoming quarterfinal has not been set, although Estep said the series will open with two games on the first day – either Thursday or Friday – before a single game, if necessary, on the second day.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “(CAK coach Tommy) Pharr has a ton of titles, at Farragut first and now at CAK. They’ll be well coached: They pitch and catch well, and they’ve been able to swing it a little.”
Columbia Acad. 8, Evangelical Chr. 1
E 001 000 0 – 1 5 2
C 030 032 x – 8 11 0
Parker Allen, Zack Baker (5) and Kenny Cox. Bryant Beranek and Max Ballard. W: Beranek. L: Allen. HR: Columbia Acad. – Beranek (9).
Photos by Rob Fleming / SM-Tn Sports