Brookhaven Academy knew they’d be in for a battle with Columbia Academy in their MAIS 5A second round playoff series.

On Tuesday in game one, the home team from Columbia scored a walk-off win in the bottom of the 8th inning to secure a 3-2 win.

Game two will take place at BA on Thursday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. A win by Brookhaven will set up a third game that will start after the conclusion of game two.

CA led 1-0 after the bottom of the first and then built that advantage to 2-0 after five complete innings.

Coach Caleb Upton saw his BA team get back even with one run in the top of the sixth and one run in the top of the seventh.

A solo home run by freshman Caleb Authement was the first run of the game for the Cougars from BA. In the next inning, senior Judson Griffin hit a single that scored Taylor Daughdrill to tie the game up.

The game winning run for CA came on a passed ball as the home team had runners at second and third with two outs. 

As members of the same district, BA took two out of three from Columbia during the regular season.

Griffin drew the start for Brookhaven on the mound. He struck out seven, gave up eight hits, walked five and gave up one earned run. Matt Newman relieved Griffin after the starter threw 114 pitches through seven innings.

Senior left-handed pitcher Holton Hartzog started on the mound for Columbia. He threw six innings, gave up three hits and two earned runs while striking out eight and walking six. Freshman Logan Buckley threw the final two innings for CA and struck out three while giving up one hit.

BA topped CA 3-1 when the teams met on March 21 in a game that had both Griffin and Hartzog starting on the mound.

Upton will have starting pitchers Easton Boyte and Trevor Fortenberry at his disposal on Thursday. BA also has an experienced arm in the bullpen in Avery Griffin.