Baseball Roundup: Houston County down to one team after first week of GHSA state tournament

After the first week of the GHSA state tournament, Houston County is down to just one team in the race for a state championship.

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

Houston County

The Bears (24-7) haven’t been a perfect team this season, but they’ve found ways to manufacture runs when they need them.

HoCo got two solid outings from Tyson Ganas (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 7 K) and Ethan Kenney (7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 K) in Game 1 and Game 2 against Lassiter respectively.

The first, an 11-1 final, saw no RBI until the bottom of the fifth. Ethan Kenney’s single brought in the first and Noah Odom’s jack to left field brought in three more.

The Bears struck out eight times in their 5-2 win to end the series, again helped along by a bomb. Ethan Kenney finished 2-for-4 at the plate for a double and home run.

In the next round HoCo will play Newnan in a rematch of the 2025 state championship series, a resounding loss for the Bears and their first on that stage. Game 1 is set for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch on May 1, Game 2 will follow. If necessary, Game 3 will be played on May 2 at 2 p.m.

Perry

Perry unsurprisingly had a hard time with North Oconee on the road, one of the toughest first-round draws in the state.

Game 1 was a clean win for the Titans, a 10-0 final in 4.5 innings; North Oconee batted 10-for-23 (.434) and seven different players recorded a hit.

The Panthers’ offense blitzed early in Game 2, putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard in three of the first four innings. After three they led 6-4, but the Titans scored five and six runs in the fourth and sixth innings respectively for a 15-8 lead.

North Oconee capped their first round victory with an eight-run seventh for the 23-8 final score.

Perry ends their season with a 13-17 overall record, 8-7 record and fourth place finish in Region 1-4A and a first round playoff appearance.

Veterans

Veterans also drew one of the toughest first round opponents in the tournament, and similar to Perry, was not able to overcome their juggernaut.

Pope ended Game 1 as soon as it began with an 11-run first inning. The Greyhounds recorded nine of their 13 hits in that period and capped their scoring with a bomb from Troy commit Luke Winbush. The Warhawks scored one run in the top of the fifth before the mercy rule ended the game.

Game 2 ended quickly, too, as crooked numbers went up for Pope in the first three innings to take a 14-0 lead. One more run in the fourth was good enough for the run rule to take effect and close out the first round matchup.

Veterans ends their season with a 14-16 overall record, a 6-9 record and fourth place finish in Region 2-5A and a first round appearance.

Westfield

Westfield’s (13-13, 5-7 GIAA District 5-4A/3A) losing streak extended to three last week; they will finish their regular season schedule with two more road games this week.

The Hornets are comfortably in the playoff picture, but a first round bye is likely out of the question after 8-2 and 6-3 losses to Pinewood Christian and Piedmont Academy respectively.

Westfield struck out 16 times against the Patriots, who are ranked third in GIAA 3A. The Hornets again struggled with 13 strikeouts against the Cougars who sit just above them in the rankings at sixth.

This week Westfield travels to Central Fellowship Christian Academy on April 27 at 4:30 p.m. They end the regular season at Stratford on April 29 at 6:30 p.m.