Baseball Roundup: Houston County sets up region championship series, Perry and Warner Robins fighting for playoff spot

There’s only a couple of weeks left in the regular season and region championship series are close, if not here for many Houston County teams.

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

Houston County

Houston County (17-4, 10-2 Region 2-5A) faced little resistance in a clean sweep of Coffee last week, winning 4-1, 10-0 and 12-0.

Tyson Ganas and Ethan Kenney hit a grand slam and three-run bomb respectively during Friday’s doubleheader.

The Bears will play two games in Tallahassee, Florida against Lincoln and Chiles during spring break, but next week they have the region championship series against Lee County.

Thomas County Central is the only challenger; a Yellow Jackets victory would require HoCo to lose at least two games and TCC would have to win out against Northside.

Northside

Northside (11-12, 2-10 Region 2-5A) sandwiched a 19-0 blowout between two close-fought games against Veterans last week, but all three were ultimately losses to put the Eagles firmly in last place.

Northside gave up a combined 12 walks in Game 1 and Game 3, 7-6 and 6-3 finals respectively.

Without the tiebreaker against fourth place Coffee, even if the Eagles were to sweep Thomas County Central (and Coffee was, too, swept) after spring break, they are mathematically eliminated from the postseason. They have no games scheduled during spring break this week.

Perry

Perry (7-14, 2-7 Region 1-4A) is still grappling with their inconsistency, something that was on clear display last week against one of the best teams in 4A.

The Panthers lost to Benedictine on the road 11-1 in Game 1, but outscored the Cadets 14-11 in a Game 2 shootout. Game 3 was over in five innings after Benedictine scored 11 runs in the fourth in a 20-6 final where Perry had five errors.

The good news for the Panthers is their hardest region series are behind them. After spring break they take on New Hampstead (6th) and Warner Robins (4th); winning two of three games in each series guarantees a playoff spot assuming the Demons don’t win more than four games against Wayne County and Perry.

Veterans

Veterans (11-9, 6-6 Region 2-5A) set themselves up to make the postseason with a sweep of Northside last week.

The Warhawks chipped away in Game 1, scoring in five of the seven innings, for a 7-6 final. Game 2 was a 19-0 blowout, with Game 3 featuring a comfortable 6-3 win.

As long as Lee County loses at least one game against Houston County, even if Veterans is swept by Coffee, the Warhawks should make the postseason because they have the series tiebreaker.

Veterans is one of the few teams playing games during spring break. They host ACE on April 2 at 6:30 p.m. and a doubleheader against Peach County on April 3 starting at 3 p.m.

Warner Robins

Warner Robins’ (8-11, 2-7 Region 1-4A) playoff spot is in danger after being swept by Ware County last week 9-3, 9-0 and 6-1.

Sandwiched between third place Wayne County (who the Demons play after spring break) and fifth place Perry (final region series) Warner Robins will need to win both remaining series and hope Perry doesn’t do well against New Hampstead to reach the postseason.

At a minimum, if the Demons win one game of each series Perry will have to be swept by New Hampstead for Warner Robins to make the postseason.

Westfield

Westfield (9-6, 3-3 GIAA District 5-4A/3A) won their first district series last week against St. Anne-Pacelli, elevating to a tie for third place in the standings.

The Hornets’ seventh-inning comeback attempt in Game 1 fell short in a 7-6 loss, but in the home doubleheader Brock Johnson and Rhodes Bledsoe each brought home a run for the 2-1 Game 2 victory.

Game 3 was a 15-11 shootout in favor of Westfield who will host Pinewood Christian on April 2, Stratford Academy on April 3 and travel to Southland Academy on April 4.