Baseball Roundup: Northside’s streak snapped, 1-4A starts region play this week

The first region games got underway last week and more regions are to follow in the coming weeks, with 1-4A starting this week.

Here’s a roundup of last week’s baseball:

Houston County

Houston County (10-2, 3-0 Region 2-5A) is one of two 2-5A teams without a blemish on their region record through the first week with a sweep of Northside.

The Bears’ defense only allowed two runs in the entire series as it continues to improve, though the offense drew frustration from head coach Matt Hopkins specifically during the doubleheader.

Kaiden Harvey had a standout performance in the series, striking out eight batters in Game 1 and batting a combined 3-of-6 to score four runs in the doubleheader.

Next up HoCo will stay in the county, facing Veterans this week at home on March 10 and away for the doubleheader on March 13.

Northside

Northside’s (9-5, 0-3 Region 2-5A) county-best, eight-game win streak came to an end last week as they faced Houston County in their first region series.

There was, at least, a moral victory to be had for the Eagles, who fought well enough but could not overcome their struggling offense and infield defensive misplays.

HoCo head coach Matt Hopkins praised Northside’s effort after the series.

The Eagles will turn their sights to a non-region road game at Westside-Macon before starting their second region series, against Lee County, on March 10. The doubleheader is on the road on March 13.

Perry

Perry (5-7) had a pair of mirrored games against Schley County last week.

In the first at home they took advantage of 11 walks to beat the Wildcats 11-1, but on the next day they batted 3-of-16 and struck out seven times in an 11-1 loss.

Panthers head coach Denny Bryant noted problems with inconsistency not exclusive to this season; Perry has had several wildly different final scores this year.

Their first region series will be this week against Wayne County. Game 1 is on the road on March 10, the last two will be on March 13 at home.

Veterans

Veterans (5-6, 0-3 Region 2-5A) had a hard time getting their offense going against Thomas County Central in their first region series, losing 5-0, 3-0 and 5-4.

The Warhawks went without a hit in Game 1, batting 0-of-21 with 12 strikeouts. Game 2 was only a slight improvement, 3-of-25 and nine strikeouts before a series-best Game 3, 6-of-28 and 11 strikeouts.

Veterans will stick around the county for their next region series against rival Houston County. Game 1 will be on the road on March 10, the doubleheader at home on March 13.

Warner Robins

Warner Robins (6-4) ended the bulk of their non-region schedule with a busy week — four games in four days — all victories.

The first was a 17-0 home win against Macon County followed by a 7-3 win against Westside-Macon on Wednesday.

Their only road game of the week was a 15-4 win at Central Fellowship Christian Academy, highlighted by Chase Plank’s booming home run over right field. The Demons ended their week with a 12-2 win against Northeast-Macon. Blaze Griffin hit two doubles and drove in three runs in the game.

Warner Robins will host Benedictine on March 10 for their first region game before heading to Savannah on March 13 for the doubleheader.

Westfield

Westfield (5-2) saw some wild swings in their offensive production last week in a split of two games.

The first, at home against Southland Academy, saw the Hornets bat .393 as a team and score 21 runs in a 21-11 final — 11 of their runs came in the first inning.

The next game they scored 19 less runs in a 12-2 loss on the road at First Presbyterian Day, batting just 4-of-20 and striking out eight times.

Westfield has a rematch with FPD on March 10 but will be on the road on March 12 against Tiftarea Academy and on March 13 against Southland Academy.