Brand, Grantham adding depth to Columbus pitching staff

Success in baseball, as in most other sports, requires strong performances up and down the lineup.

Columbus is no different than any other team. Its advancement to the Class 5A quarterfinals can be traced back to a host of different sources on both sides of the ball. If there’s one name that has been heard above the others, though, it has been pitcher/first baseman Cason Greathouse.

Greathouse has shoulded the heavy load of innings on the mound. He’s thrown a lot of pitches, gotten a lot of wins and given Columbus a big lift throughout the season. In the playoffs, though, it takes more than just one arm to have a shot at a state title.

That’s where the others come in. Guys like Jonathan Brand and Trent Grantham.

Neither pitcher entered the season as locks to get significant innings on the mound. Both sophomores were question marks, as was most of the pitching behind Greathouse for the Blue Devils. From early on, though, coach Chad Mathis saw something he liked from both.

For Brand, he liked his command of his pitches.

“We were pleasantly surprised at how much control he had,” Mathis said. “Technically, he wasn’t even on the radar for us, really. We knew he could be a guy who could come in and get some innings, but as the year progressed he just got better and better.”

In the playoffs, Brand has throws two complete games, one of which took an extra inning to complete. In 15 innings, he has allowed just two earned runs en route to becoming, arguably, the Blue Devils’ most effective starter at the present time.

He said he’s added a couple of pitches over the year, helped along by pitching coach Cam Greathouse.

“He’s helped me develop a sense of maturity out there,” Brand said. “I just try to attack the hitter. Find what they aren’t very good at hitting and go after it.”

Grantham hasn’t started games in the playoffs, but has been similarly effective. In relief, he has thrown over nine innings and allowed just three earned runs. He has played a number of different roles, from successfully doing damage control to finishing out close games.

“He’s showed some velocity, and he’s really gotten a lot better,” Mathis said. “Coming in last week, getting those three innings were huge.”

Those three innings were the last 10 outs of a 9-7 win over Allatoona in extra innings of Game 1 in the second round. After the Blue Devils squandered a 7-1 lead, Grantham took over and shut the door on Allatoona, allowing just two hits while his team scored twice in the 10th inning to win.

Neither Brand nor Grantham have been fazed much by the big situations the playoffs have had to offer, despite being in just their second year of high school ball. Brand said there’s a brief moment of nerves in the first inning before he settles into a groove, and Grantham said it’s just something he’s gotten used to from playing ball his whole life.

“We just go out there and do our job, do the best we can for the team,” Grantham said.

“As the game goes on, it’s just a normal game,” Brand said. “Just like any other day. I’ve been playing my whole life.”

This week, in the Class 5A quarterfinals, Columbus will face Houston County, which will throw out three strong pitchers of its own in the best-of-three series. Pitching from Columbus will be vital, Mathis said, if it wants to continue in the playoffs.

“I learned a long time ago that once you get to the playoffs, you’ve got to have arms,” he said. “Guys who may not have gotten a ton of opportunities can still be huge in the playoffs.”

That means Greathouse. It means Brand and Grantham. It means guys like Jackson Mellenberg and more.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Mathis said.

This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Brand, Grantham adding depth to Columbus pitching staff."