Baseball Roundup: Northside wins eighth straight, Houston County teams enter region play this week

The early season is officially over and now most Houston County teams will enter their respective region races this week.

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

Houston County

Houston County (7-2) was one of two teams at an out-of-town tournament last week, and they came away from their time in LaGrange with a 2-1 record against some tough opponents.

They played Lambert on Friday and took the 4-3 victory after scoring a run in both the sixth and seventh innings. The Bears led the whole way against LaGrange, scoring five runs in the first three innings before adding a few more in the final two of the 8-2 win.

HoCo’s lone loss on the weekend came against Northridge from Alabama in an 11-inning thriller.

The teams traded momentum in the first and second halves of the game but the Jaguars’ Cooper Obradovich delivered an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 11th to claim the win.

This week HoCo will face Northside for their first region series of 2026.

Northside

Northside (9-2) is the sole owner of the longest winning streak in the county, now at eight after four wins last week.

The first was the start of a two-game road trip, a 19-1 victory against Howard with Caden Nelson delivering a perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate with six RBI.

On Wednesday the Eagles took a short trip to Hawkinsville for an 8-3 final. Senior Taylor Hall picked up the win with six strikeouts and one earned run in six innings.

The final two were at home, though their 5-4 eighth inning walk-off against Taylor County was the more exciting of the two. Northside ended their week with a 13-3 thumping of Central Fellowship Christian Academy

The Eagles are a few wins away from their best record in more than a decade, and this week they’ll look for their first region win since 2019 when they face Houston County.

Perry

Perry (5-6) took a trip to LakePoint in Cartersville for a tournament over the weekend, one of two Houston County teams on the road last week.

The Panthers came away 2-1 on the weekend with some wildly different finals.

On one end of the spectrum was a 14-1 victory over Monroe Area that saw another home run for Jackson Thompson. The next game against Dawson County ended with a two-RBI single from Brandon Shultz for a 3-2 victory before a 12-2 crushing at the hands of East Paulding in five innings.

Perry will actually have a home-and-home against Schley County this week; their first region series will start next week on March 10 against Wayne County.

Veterans

Veterans (5-3) went 2-1 last week, picking up a win against Warner Robins and splitting their home-and-home series against First Presbyterian Day.

The 14-0 victory against the Demons came on a frigid Monday night but the Warhawks poured the runs on in bunches with five runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

The first game against FPD, at home, saw an explosive first with 11 runs between the two programs, though the Warhawks scored six runs through the next three innings to seal the 12-9 win.

Their final game of the week was Veterans’ second shutout of the season in a 10-0 loss in five innings. FPD’s Conner Strandmark struck out nine batters and the Warhawks were 2-for-15 at the plate.

This week Veterans will face Thomas County Central in their first region series.

Warner Robins

Weather moved most of Warner Robins’ (2-4) games from the end of last week to this week, so the Demons’ lone competition was a 14-0 loss to Veterans in the frigid Monday night winds.

Warner Robins struggled with defensive errors, dropping or missing a lot of the fly balls Veterans put in the air, but they will look to bounce back this week before getting into region play next week.

Westfield

Westfield (4-1) went 2-1 last week with a couple of big wins against Central Fellowship Christian Academy (15-0) and Dominion Christian (10-2). Cooper Kennedy had a hand in both of those, pitching a combined 8.1 innings for 15 strikeouts.

Their lone loss of the season came against Tiftarea Academy, who scored five runs in the seventh to make certain of their 10-4 win.

The Hornets still have a couple of weeks before their first region game. They’ll split their time this week between Southland Academy at home and First Presbyterian Day on the road.