TUNNEL HILL, Ga. — Natural ability can take a player far. It’s certainly helped Northwest Whitfield High School’s Hank Bearden who noted he had an affinity for the game of baseball nearly since the time he picked up his first bat and ball when he was 3 years old.

Playing the game for so long, other factors supplemented the natural ability Bearden had to help him develop into one of the premier players in Georgia.

“God’s blessed him with natural ability, he’s got a great arm and he’s got baseball instincts, that’s the main thing,” said Northwest coach Todd Middleton.

All of it built up to Bearden’s sophomore season with the Bruins where he hit .351 with two home runs and 33 RBIs. On he mound Bearden was 5-5 with four saves. He had a 2.01 ERA and struck out 92 in 62 2/3 innings. He was a vital piece in helping Northwest into second round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

In recognition of his season, Bearden has been named the Daily Citizen-News’ 2018 All-Area Baseball Player of the Year.

“It was a good season, played good, a lot of teammates around me,” Bearden said. “When I was pitching I had good defense behind me. Good hitters to get on base that I can try to drive them in.”

Bearden has proven to be one of the area’s top players going back to his freshman season where he starred on the Bruins’ region championship team.

“Last year he came in as a freshman and made a huge difference, basically the same team we had that went 8-18, he came in and not by himself, but he made things to where it was a little but easier on the other guys to get the job done. This year everyone knew who he was. It was a little tougher in the lineup, at times he didn’t get a lot of good pitches to hit but still was patient enough to draw a lot of walks and get a lot of hits and RBIs. Obviously when he was driving runs in, that’s when we were getting it done offensively.

“On the mound, same thing, everyone was geared up for Hank. We didn’t play great defense behind him early in the year, early in the region part of the season and that accounted for a couple losses he did take, but still he was just as dominant. He’s special. He’s a very talented young man.”

Scouts were also seeing how talented he was. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons Bearden committed to play college baseball for the University of Georgia. He said making that decision took a bit of a weight off during the offseason.

“It was good to get it off the table, so I didn’t have to worry about it really,” he said.

“That’s a lot of pressure for a kid, especially a freshman or sophomore having to make those kind of decisions,” Middleton added. “Just to get that out of the way makes things a lot easier mentally especially.”

Hank has played alongside his brother, Jake who’s a grade older, all their lives. Jake said he’s not surprised to see how far the game has taken Hank.

“When we were younger, probably since we were 9 or 10 we knew this is what we want to do and see how far it can take us,” Jake said. “We’re always trying to push each other. I knew he was good enough to do it. “He’s always thrown harder and been a little stronger.”

The Beardens were bred into the game, into a baseball family.

“My dad, my family played, my brother plays,” Hank said. “I just wanted to since I was little. My dad pushed me, my brother, family, friends all pushed me.”

Jake added that they both had a desire to follow in their father’s footsteps.

“We knew he played in college,” Jake said. “We wanted to be like him picked up a bat and ball when were 3 or 4 and we picked it up ever since.”

As years went by, both grew in the sport from playing T-Ball to getting on travel ball teams. Soon, Hank was put on the pitcher’s mound, a spot he fell in love with and an area of the game he says is his favorite to this day.

“I was about 8 or 9 when I started pitching,” he said. “I always used to throw it hard when I was little, they just decided to put me on the mound and I loved it ever since.

“I think it’s more fun. Striking someone out, its more fun than hitting.”

Hank spent as much time as he could perfecting his craft to where it’s put him in position to make a future out of the game.

“It took a lot of work, a lot of hard dedication to get where I am today, getting better,” he said. “I’m always trying to get better. Hopefully we’ll have two more good seasons.”

He’s already had two good seasons with a pair of playoff appearances and a region title, a great experience for brothers to share.

“It’s really just been fun,” Jake Bearden said. “We played together in middle school and that was fun, but once high school came, he just played a really big factor in our games the last two years. It’s be a lot of fun in games and practices.”

Hank adds that the friendly competition between the brothers push each other to raise their games.

“A lot of competition between us, we both push each other to be the best player we can,” he said. “We both try to push each other as hard as we can, become better baseball players.”

Middleton said it’s something he noticed not only between them, but also the rest of the team.

“They definitely feed off each other, Hank and Jake and rely on each other a lot,” their coach said. “The team sees that competitiveness and they want to compete too.”

The brothers have one more year playing together at Northwest and Hank one more on his own after. Now established as top player in the state, Hank Bearden is sure to bring out the best in every opponent he faces for the next two years.

“He’s reached the point everyone knows who he is he’s going to have to work harder to stay at that level and stay ahead of everyone else,” Middleton said. “He’s going to have to work harder because everybody’s gunning for him.”

That shouldn’t be a problem.

“I’m going to get in the weight room, work on my mechanics,” Hank said. “Work with pitching coaches, hitting coaches, try to get better.”