By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

Two straight games didn’t faze the Columbus baseball team.

The Blue Devils represented Region 2-AAA diligently Friday afternoon, downing East Paulding and Eagle’s View (Fla.) in consecutive games in the 2009 LaGrange-Toyota Invitational Tournament.

In the first game, Columbus sent East Paulding home in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule in a 15-4 victory.

Columbus then beat Eagle’s View 7-3 to move to 2-0.

Columbus plays Niceville (Fla.) at 12:30 p.m. at Granger Park today with a chance to advance to the championship game at 7:30 p.m.

Blue Devils head coach Bobby Howard, who has won 10 state titles in his illustrious career, said his team is comfortable playing multiple games on any given day, and knows it can play even better.

“We’re used to (playing consecutive games),” Howard said. “We’ve only played one game (prior to the tournament), and we hadn’t played well until today.”

Columbus started things off against East Paulding with a home run from senior Travis Benn in the second inning, who was integral in giving the Blue Devils runs in both wins.

The third inning was Columbus’ most impressive of the day, however.

With two outs, the Blue Devils reeled 10 runs to take a commanding 11-0 lead.

It was Columbus junior McLendon Hill who got things going with a single, and Bobby Andrews sent him home with a double.

Bryce Dial then singled to bring home Andrews, and Benn was hit by a pitch and Brad Barto walked to load the bases.

That’s when senior Matt Taylor, who is a University of Alabama signee, stepped up to the plate.

Taylor smacked a grand slam to put Columbus ahead 7-0, and the Blue Devils still weren’t finished with the scoring onslaught.

After Kyle Carter walked and Phil Wise singled, Taylor Wolfe, another Alabama signee, hit a double to send Carter home.

Just as Hill sparked the inning, he did even more damage near the end with a three-run homer to give Columbus the 11-run advantage.

East Paulding would score in the bottom of the third on a missed pop fly, and scored three runs in the fourth on RBIs from Andy Almonte, Derek Ward and Jacob Forrest to close the gap to 12-4.

The fifth inning resulted in a 3-run homer from Benn - his second of the day - to put Columbus ahead 15-4.

Drew Brooks pitched the Blue Devils to mercy-rule victory, stopping East Paulding from closing within 10.

“We came together today,” Howard said. “We pitched well and we swung some big hits.”

The game against Eagle’s View was much closer.

Eagle’s View surged ahead 2-0 in the first inning on an RBI from Matt Bergquist and a missed throw to send Bergquist home.

Columbus tied it up on a two-run RBI from Wise in the second.

Bergquist came up with another RBI in the fifth after sending home Tyler Benfield, which gave Eagle’s View a brief 3-2 lead.

The Blue Devils had more scoring outbursts in the sixth and seventh innings, highlighted by a two-run homer from Wolfe to put Columbus ahead for the 7-3 final score.

Wolfe then turned around to complete his game on the mound to squash any hopes of an Eagle’s View rally in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Howard said having Wolfe and Taylor, along with six other seniors, helps in tournaments like this.

“It makes it easier to coach when you have players like them,” Howard said. “They’re used to playing these tournaments.”

EAGLE’S VIEW 10, NICEVILLE 5: Once Eagle’s View got going, it never looked back.

Niceville’s Danny Collins hit a homer in the first inning to tie the game at 1-1, but Eagle’s View reeled off eight unanswered runs by the fourth inning to take the commanding lead.

Eagle’s View junior Hunter Livengood had a two-run single in the fourth, and Austin Maddox added two more RBIs later.

Collins did most of the work for Niceville, as the senior had a two-run triple in the fifth inning and two RBIs in the seventh to complete Niceville’s scoring.

Eagle’s View faces East Paulding at 12:30 p.m. today at Callaway, while Niceville faces unbeaten Columbus at 12:30 p.m. at Granger Park.