Beard fans 16 as Dunedin tops Robinson for district crown

The 2022 Class 4A-District 7 Champions – Dunedin Falcons (photo by Chuck Frye)

By Chuck Frye
Correspondent

DUNEDIN – A resurgent Robinson program’s challenges in playing for the Class 4A-7 championship were daunting.

The biggest roadblock was the district itself. Sprawling over three different counties, none of the four teams played each other during the regular season. The first time top-seed Dunedin and the visiting No. 3 Knights played each other was Wednesday, with the title and a guaranteed berth in Regionals on the line.

Studying stats and video can only prepare a team so much, but factor in the reality that was Falcons’ left-hander Trey Beard and Robinson’s path to victory was beyond rocky.

Doing his part on the pristine mound at the Toronto Blue Jays’ training facility as well as at the plate, Beard was the major reason Dunedin took home its second-straight district crown in a 6-0 decision.

“(Beard is) about as close to elite as you can get at this level,” Knights head coach Alex Barron said. “He’s about as good as you’re going to see.”

Mixing four different pitches in varying speeds of delivery, the 6-foot-2 junior gave up just two hits (a first-inning double to senior Joe Whitaker and a second-inning base hit to classmate Jacob Maskin) and saw just five Robinson batters reach base (adding two walks and an error). In between, Beard struck out 16 including an impressive mid-game run of five-straight Ks as part of 11-straight outs from the second to the fifth innings.

“I wasn’t always the kid that would throw it past people,” said Beard, who threw 74 of his 103 pitches for strikes. “I just had to keep them off-balance. I just picked up my slider this year and, to be honest, I learned my change-up last fall off of Instragram. I saw a slo-mo video of this dude throwing it, I needed new pitches so I picked it up.”

Beard also delivered at the dish, driving the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence for the only run he would need for victory. He later added an RBI single to the 12-hit attack of Dunedin (18-8).

Two-hit days also came from the bottom of the Falcons’ order as No. 9 hitter Bryan Loos had a double and an RBI single, No. 8 batter Brady Byers’ base hits plated a run and he scored another, and No. 6 Greyson McNeill scored once.

After scoring twice in the second inning, a three-run fourth that saw the first five Falcon batters reach base put the game away.

Robinson (15-10) had its opportunities, putting four of its five base runners into scoring position, but Beard calmly and definitively extinguished every attempted rally.

“We wanted to go up to the plate with our normal approach out of the gate, which we did, and make adjustments off of that, which we did not do,” Barron explained. “We were able to make a little bit of noise but (Beard) made the adjustments and we didn’t make the adjustments to stop that.”

The Knights’ defense certainly didn’t back down as senior third baseman Jacob Maskin’s diving snag became a fifth-inning-ending double play while second baseman Whitaker made a dazzling running catch with his back to the plate in the sixth.

Now Barron and his squad wait to see if the rating numbers allow their season to continue. If the figures don’t calculate, Barron knows exactly who to thank for the renaissance the 2022 Knights experienced.

“I don’t care if people think it’s a cliché or dodging a question, but every single one of my (10) seniors helped make this happen. We had such an underwhelming season last year (9-15 and one-and-done in Districts), and they came in and absolutely put in the work. They were committed, they bought in, they were supportive … they helped build back our brand, helped flip our record and they kept us level-headed the entire way. We honestly would not have had the same season without those guys.”

⚾ Class 4A-District 7 Championship ⚾

Dunedin 6
Robinson 0

R 000|000|0 – |0|3|0
D 120|300|x – |6|12|0
W – Beard; L – Akins
2B – Whitaker (R); Loos (D); HR –  Beard (D). Records – R (15-10); D (18-8).

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