Baseball Roundup: Three Houston County teams headed to postseason as GHSA regular season ends

The GHSA regular season is officially behind us and three Houston County teams will continue to play into the “second season” starting this week.

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

Houston County

The Bears (22-7, 12-3 Region 2-5A, 1st) are the only team in the county that will host a playoff series this week after securing their sixth region championship in seven years at the end of region play.

Lassiter is their first-round opponent, and HoCo is 4-0 against the Trojans in the MaxPreps era. The last time the two teams played was the second round of the 2024 state tournament, a sweep with 8-1 and 3-1 wins for the Bears.

Last week HoCo split a home and away series against Harlem and beat Jones County 9-2 on Friday to finish out the regular season. Friday’s doubleheader against Lassiter starts at 4:30 p.m.

Northside

Northside’s (15-15, 2-13 Region 2-5A, 6th) season is officially over, but with four wins last week they finished a season .500 or better for the first time since 2012.

That accomplishment caps a season where they won their first region game since 2019 and multiple for the first time since 2016. Their 15 wins are the most of any Eagles team since 2011.

Perry

Perry (13-15, 8-7 Region 1-4A, 4th) got into the playoffs with a sweep of Warner Robins last week.

Game 1 was a close-fought 7-5 win, but the final two games were won by a combined 39-5 score.

Perry travels to North Oconee on April 22 for the doubleheader. An “if” game will be played on April 23 if needed.

Veterans

Veterans (14-14, 6-9 Region 2-5A, 4th) finished their playoff-prep with a doubleheader against Tift County last week, a split to end a three-game series.

Game 1 was an 11-8 victory for the Warhawks, and the final two were one-run wins for the Blue Devils (7-6) and Veterans (9-8) in Game 2 and Game 3 respectively.

The Warhawks’ first-round matchup is Pope, a tough series especially on the road. The doubleheader is scheduled for April 24. An “if” game will be played on April 25 if needed.

Warner Robins

The Demons’ (10-17, 2-13 Region 1-4A, 5th) finish in their first season under Parker Stahlman mirrored their previous, just missing out on the postseason in the last region series.

Warner Robins needed to sweep Perry to sneak in, but a hard-fought 7-5 loss crushed those hopes last week.

For last week’s doubleheader the Demons’ new baseball field was finished enough to play on, and Chase Plank belted the first home run in the field’s history in Game 2.

Westfield

Westfield (13-11, 5-7 GIAA District 5-4A/3A, 4th) finished up district play with a series win against Strong Rock Christian, with 5-3 and 8-2 victories in the first two games.

Game 3’s comeback was cut short in an 8-6 loss, just as the offense regained momentum in the seventh inning.

The rest of the Hornets’ regular season schedule is on the road, starting with Pinewood Christian on April 21 and Piedmont Academy on April 22.