Columbus builds big lead early, holds off Hardaway

Columbus High scored four runs in the first inning and made it hold up as the Blue Devils eased by Hardaway 4-3 Wednesday at Randy Jordan Field.

With the win, Columbus, which has clinched a state playoff berth, is 12-5 in the Region 1-5A. They are two games ahead of Harris County and LaGrange.

The Blue Devils finish the regular season Thursday at Hardaway. With a win in that game, the Blue Devils would clinch second place in the region and a home series in the first round of the state playoffs. Northside has already clinched first in the region.

“We only have five losses (in the region) and have one more game to play at Hardaway tomorrow,’’ Columbus coach Chad Mathis said. “We need to concentrate on that game, and we will see after that where we are.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks fell to 8-8, 1 1/2 games behind LaGrange, which beat Harris County Wednesday, for the fourth and final playoff berth.

Columbus’ Cason Greathouse went six innings to pick up the win and Trent Grantham retired all three batters he faced in the seventh to preserve the victory.

“Grantham did a great job closing the door, and it is nice for everyone on the team to contribute,” Mathis said. “Cason’s pitch count was not high, but he seemed to be laboring a little, and I felt the pitching change was needed.”

Columbus scored its four runs when they loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman. Greathouse then singled to right to chase two runs home and Grantham chased in two more for the 4-0 lead.

The Hawks’ Sam Anthony doubled and scored in the fourth to cut the lead to 4-1 and that’s how it stood until the sixth.

Jonathan Manibusan hit a double in the gap to knock in two runs with one out, cutting the deficit to 4-3. An out later, Tristan Driver singled to right.

That would have loaded the bases but Driver, expecting the lead runner to go home, overran first and catcher Blake Hicks grabbed the relay throw, held the runner at third and ran Driver down at first for the third out of the inning.

“It was a good ball game and we will take that out any time. The players got momentum from that play and we were able to take advantage of it,” Mathis said.

The Hawks’ Anthony made two defensive plays at short that prevented Columbus from scoring any more runs. He dove and fielded a line drive and caught Jarrett Lee at first for a double play and dove on another play and did a 360 spin to throw out Columbus’ Ryan Anderson.

“You won’t see a better defensive play than what Anthony made on us in the sixth,” Mathis said.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Columbus builds big lead early, holds off Hardaway."