Good-bye, Blake Gould. Hello, win column.

Holt Van Etten and Willy Amador blasted mammoth home runs off relief pitchers after Kingwood pulled its starter Gould, and the Bryan Vikings rolled to an 8-1 victory in Game 1 of their Class 5A best-of-3 bi-district series Thursday at Andy Wells Field.

Gould did not give up a Bryan hit through four innings but departed after walking Nick Tepera to lead off the fifth. Jeremy Pfuntner had a one-out hit, then Van Etten cranked a three-run homer well over the right field fence to open the game’s scoring. It was Van Etten’s first career homer.

“I was just trying to hit something solid, hit it on the ground or a high pop fly to get the run from third in,” said Van Etten, who ripped into the second pitch thrown by junior right-hander Taylor Battle. “It felt amazing. I have never hit one in high school before.”

Bryan added five more runs an inning later, getting a prodigious shot to left for a grand slam by winning pitcher Willy Amador. click here for complete story