Houston County takes learning moments in stride to set up 2025 championship rematch with Newnan

WARNER ROBINS — If there’s one thing Matt Hopkins has praised his young, inexperienced team for over the course of the season it’s finding a way to win.

They don’t boast an explosive offense or have a loaded pitching room like years past, but in what some thought might be a down year the Houston County Bears have found a way to win. Despite a slow start and mistakes they came out of round one against Lassiter victorious, 11-1 and 5-2.

“I can’t say enough about them being able to push runs when we needed to, and they’ve done a much better job the last few weeks,” Hopkins said.

This team struggled to hit the ball early in the year with an average close to 10 strikeouts a game. There have been times they have it figured out, and there have been others like the opening game of the series.

There were no RBI through the first 4.5 innings of Game 1 and hits were far and few between.

Ethan Kenney’s fifth-inning single through the 5-6 hole was just the Bears’ third hit of the game, but it put some wind in their sails.

The very next at-bat Noah Odom sent the first pitch he saw soaring over the left field fence, scoring three runs and blowing the game open. The moment the ball left his bat the dugout exploded.

“We’ve been a second time through team most of the year. We’ve been slow starters,” Hopkins said. “We’re a young team and trying to adjust. I think once we’re seeing people we’re doing a good job of competing. We got later into this game and all of a sudden we started hitting the barrel, and those were two really good arms they threw at us and I was really worried. That’s a good baseball team and all we heard was how offensive they were.”

Game 2 never had a singular pivotal moment, but a series of situations the Bears worked their way out of.

The Trojans belted three singles in a row to open the second inning of Game 2; that was as many as they had in the entirety of the first game.

Their fourth scored a run to make it a 4-1 game, but Ethan Kenney finished the side with a strikeout.

Two more singles in the third were harmless and they went three-up-three-down in the fourth before seeing no more than four batters in the final three innings.

Hopkins admitted it was not the prettiest effort. Base running was the most glaring issue with several players going for risky plays, many of which were punished, but those are learning moments for the eighth-year head coach.

“Luckily we get to learn and advance. It’s one of those things, hopefully we become wiser,” Hopkins said. “These young guys, by the time they’re seniors, just think about how many big they’ve been in. Everything’s a growth moment.”

HoCo’s most productive offensive inning in Game 2 was the second and that was ended prematurely by a base running mistake.

With two outs the Bears drew a walk, reached on an error and singled to go up 3-0. Another walk and single made it 4-0 with runners on the corners.

It looked like the momentum might carry them to another early end but Damian Blasingame was caught off of the third base bag for the final out, much to the frustration of Hopkins.

“I ended up talking to him after I calmed down and told him, ‘That’s a good learning moment,’” Hopkins said. “That’s what we’re doing, we’re growing. Everything is just magnified when you get in the playoffs and we’re learning that one game at a time.”

Maintaining energy in the dugout is another problem area, though it’s not an unfamiliar one.

“I think our dugout still needs to learn how to maintain energy throughout both games,” Hopkins said. “It’s real easy when you win Game 1 to settle, but you’re never guaranteed to win Game 3 even if you win Game 1. So you really got to attack the day when you get the opportunity. I thought our guys did a good job with that… I think we’ve only got about seven or eight kids that have been in the playoffs, and so we’re really trying to develop together and I’m proud of what they did.”

UP NEXT

HoCo advances to the second round where they will face Newnan in a rematch of the 2025 GHSA 5A state championship, the Bears’ first loss in the game under Hopkins.

In the post-game press conference Hopkins said it was brand new territory for him and his program, but that there were lessons to be learned.

“I think we’re understanding that we’re a little bit more mortal, if you will, like we might lose a game,” Hopkins said. “We can’t be down in Game 2, and I thought in the [2025] state championship we were so sure we were fixing to win the state championship that when we lost Game 1, we were just shell shocked, and I think we never recovered. I think it’s something we really learned from, and I hope that we continue to learn and maybe it’s something that carries us through these playoffs.”