{"id":58983,"date":"2026-05-02T03:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/58983\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T03:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:33:10","slug":"baseball-tate-berans-big-hit-gets-geneva-past-batavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/58983\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball: Tate Beran’s big hit gets Geneva past Batavia"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an excellent showing last spring, junior second baseman Tate Beran<\/a> entered this season with great expectations for Geneva. Hitting .355 a year ago put that spotlight on himself.<\/p>\n

Beran then experienced a rocky start this spring and it started to snowball on him. As he tried to sort things out, he was dropped from the leadoff spot to ninth in the Vikings\u2019 batting order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a toll mentally,\u201d Beran said. \u201cThere are different parts of the game like my fielding. My fielding has been really good this year. That\u2019s how I give back when my hitting\u2019s not too good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, my hitting will fall eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, all it takes is one big moment to turn it around. Beran is hoping his go-ahead, two-run double in Friday\u2019s wild 7-6 DuKane Conference win over rival Batavia is that moment for him.<\/p>\n

Beran dumped a double onto the foul line in left field with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Geneva (19-3, 8-2) the lead for good. Alex Abraham<\/a> also went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer. Aidan Hall<\/a> and Ryan Kastor<\/a> each hit solo homers.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Tate Beran (3) reacts after his go-ahead, two-run double helped beat Batavia in a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 1, 2026. (H. Rick Bamman \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

Liam Darre<\/a> hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give Batavia (8-10-1, 4-4) the early lead. Michael Vander Luitgaren<\/a> added a two-run triple, while Ryan Rodriguez<\/a> chipped in with a two-run double and Brandon Oke<\/a> ended up 2-for-3.<\/p>\n

Knowing how difficult things have been for Beran, Geneva coach Brad Wendell<\/a> was happy to see something finally go his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy for him,\u201d Wendell said. \u201cAnd to find a line? It literally hit the line. That\u2019s Tate just grinding and good things will happen. He\u2019s put better at-bats together as we\u2019ve started conference play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendell understands how quickly things can get away from a struggling player, especially in a relatively short season.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Tate Beran (3) and Matthew Martija (13) celebrate after beating Batavia in a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 1, 2026. (H. Rick Bamman \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how it is, you start a little slow and things start to pile up on you a little bit,\u201d Wendell said. \u201cI think he got too anxious, too hungry, and it took him awhile to get back into his little groove.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen guys have good seasons young, expectations are high. He\u2019ll just keep competing and he\u2019ll do a great job for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beran pointed out he had started to see signs that he was breaking out of it even before his big moment Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really trying to see more pitches and not get myself out early in the count,\u201d Beran said.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Tate Beran (3) watches his hit against Batavia in the third inning of a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 1, 2026. (H. Rick Bamman \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

Batavia led 2-0 until the bottom of the third when Geneva put together a four-run rally, all coming with two outs. Abraham\u2019s three-run shot was followed by Kastor\u2019s solo shot. Hall\u2019s solo homer led off the fourth to make it 5-2.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs responded with a four-run fourth, highlighted by Vander Luitgaren\u2019s two-run triple and Rodriguez\u2019s two-run double for a 6-5 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bounce here, a ball on the line, it was a really good game between two really good teams,\u201d Batavia coach Alex Beckmann<\/a> said. \u201cWe always say, no lead is safe here, even with the wind blowing in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great back-and-forth rivalry game. There were a lot of people here. It was fun \u2014 good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Gavin Dworak (22) and Nelson Wendell (5) score runs in the seventh inning of a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 1, 2026. (H. Rick Bamman \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

Nelson Wendell<\/a> was hit by a pitch and Gavin Dworak<\/a> legged out an infield single to set up Beran\u2019s heroics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to go opposite field but I got ahead of myself and tried to pull it down the line,\u201d Beran said. \u201cShout out to my teammates for getting on base and putting me in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping to build on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it\u2019s gone so far, having a moment like that, it\u2019s a ton of stress,\u201d Beran said. \u201cBut just take a deep breath and know my chance is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After an excellent showing last spring, junior second baseman Tate Beran entered this season with great expectations for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6606,6607,6608,6609,65,6610,899],"class_list":{"0":"post-58983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-aurora-beacon-news","9":"tag-aurora-beacon-news-sports","10":"tag-elgin-courier-news","11":"tag-elgin-courier-news-sports","12":"tag-geneva","13":"tag-high-school-sports","14":"tag-local-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116502882323777573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}