Boerne’s Jake Ramirez is all smiles after homering against Edison in the baseball playoffs. Photo by Mike Reeder

After polishing off San Antonio Edison like a small snack over the weekend, the Boerne Greyhounds will be eyeing a much meatier course this week when they tangle with New Braunfels Canyon in the area round of the high school baseball playoffs.

The best-of-three, second-round series against the Cougars will be played at Smithson Valley High School, with the first two games getting under way at 7 p.m. tonight and Friday.

A third game, if needed, will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday. Canyon, the champions of District 26-4A, are 28-3 and ranked eighth in the state by the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association. Boerne Baseball Coach Chuck Foster says his squad is duly impressed, but hardly intimidated by the Cougar’s lofty status.

“So what? If we go out and play and hit and pitch like we can do, I think we can beat anybody in the state,” Foster said. “That’s a bold statement, I know. But I really believe that and our kids really believe that. I hope they do because this is a big series. I think we can do it.”

Edison probably wouldn’t take much convincing. Boerne beat the Golden Bears 14-0 in the bi-district series opener on the road Friday, and had nearly equaled that score by the end of the first inning in Saturday’s 21-2 closeout win at Boerne.

The Hounds scored twice in the first inning of Friday’s contest, including a solo homerun by outfielder Kyle Sulak.

Hound hitters racked up five more runs in the third and put up another five spot in the fifth. Although they didn’t need any help, the Greyhounds also benefited from five Edison errors. Meanwhile, Boerne lefty Niko Gonzales kept the Golden Bears off the board with a six-hit, complete game shutout that was shortened to six innings on the run rule.

Saturday’s series clinching win in Boerne wasn’t nearly as close.

Sulak led off the hit parade in the bottom of the first with a triple. Third baseman Brian Brademan, first baseman Zach Burdick and outfielder Blair Kessler followed up with three consecutive doubles, and the parade of Boerne batters crossing home plate quickly became a conga line.

By the time the first frame was finished, Boerne held a 10-0 lead, which was more than enough with pitcher Barrett Houser allowing only an infield single in the first and a two-out, RBI double in the third.

Foster began freely substituting in the second, but there’s not much distance between the starters and the bench on the Hounds’ deep roster.

Substitute infielder Jake Ramirez immediately lofted a solo homer past the 358 foot mark in left center and followed that one up in his next at-bat with a two-run shot in the third.

Ramirez also drove in another run with a double and finished with four RBIs — not a bad day for someone who started the day on the bench.

“I didn’t expect to hit that first one at all,” Ramirez said. “It looked like a popup and then it just carried out. The second one was a complete surprise. It felt pretty good to have two in a row.”

“Jake gets an opportunity and he makes the most of it,” Foster said. “You say he’s not a starter, but he can hit and he’s a starter-type player. He’d be a starter in a lot of places.”

With Boerne up 21-2 heading into the fifth, Foster had pitching coach John Uecker stall for time to give longtime sub Cody Scribner time to hurriedly warm up in the bullpen and taste his first varsity action.

After issuing a walk and giving up a double, Scribner settled down and recorded three straight outs. His grin was so big that you hardly noticed the Fu Manchu moustache he had scribbled on his face before he learned he was going into the game.

“Cody’s a character and we love him,” Foster said. “All the kids love him. He comes to practice every day and he deserves an opportunity. I wanted to get him a chance to get on the mound in a varsity game. It was fun to watch and he did a great job.”

Even though Foster substituted early and often and never took advantage of numerous chances to steal, some people on the Edison side of the field loudly complained when the Hounds kept scoring late in the game. They evidently failed to notice that Boerne might have scored 30 or more runs if that had been Foster’s intent.

“I would never tell anybody to go out there and dog it, strike out on purpose or bunt it to them,” Foster said.

“To me, that’s more of a travesty to the game than scoring a lot of runs. You can’t tell somebody not to play hard.”

One thing Boerne’s pitchers seldom have to worry about is run support. With a lineup that can manufacture runs with speed and erupt with power, the Hounds have all the ingredients you look for in a title contender.

“It’s all about timing,” Foster said. “If we’re clicking, watch out. Because we have a chance.”