Extra Innings: Tuesday’s loss to Lee County was a costly one for Houston County

Going into this week the Bears controlled their own destiny.

Despite losing to Thomas County Central, they won the series against Tift County to reclaim the Region 1-6A throne. Unfortunately, for several recurring reasons, their stay on said throne was short lived.

Tuesday’s 8-2 loss to Lee County put Tift County back in control of the region, and the path to a region championship has become very difficult for HoCo.

Let’s get into Extra Innings…

PHOTOS: See more pictures from Tuesday’s game.

1) Low Battery

For much of the season the Bears have lacked energy. Whether you consider Tuesday to be the peak of it or not, it was certainly not one of their better moments.

Slow defense resulting in base hits, no communication on the field and a relatively quiet dugout during at-bats were the most obvious effects.

The energy was great at the beginning of the season, especially in the Lowndes series.

Since then it’s been on a steady decline, and as soon as region play started HoCo has struggled to get out of bed for at least one game in every series.

Against weaker opponents they’ve still been able to eek out wins, but that hasn’t been good enough for the last three series.

Bears coach Matt Hopkins has said something along these lines multiple times this season in regards to coming ready to play:

“I think we just took for granted that you got to respect everybody,” he said. “[Lee County] is still fighting, they’re doing what their team should do. Hopefully we respond.”

They’ve responded with a series win in four out of five so far. We’ll see if they can finish against Lee County.

2) Bombs or bunts

One thing HoCo has struggled with is consistent offense.

Though several players have had big power moments, the Bears don’t have anyone who is a true “power hitter.”

HoCo relies on getting base hits and aggressively moving along the bags for their runs. But when they can’t get on base that strategy doesn’t help them much.

The top of the batting order will often fly out going for the big hit, the bottom of the lineup is mostly good for bunts or soft singles, and the middle of the lineup sees mixed results.

Some of the problem is just bad luck, like Hopkins mentioned on Tuesday when the Bears hit into multiple double plays:

“We’ve had a lot of really good bagels the last couple weeks that have turned into double plays. Eli Stephens hits a ball that’s going to be in the corner, first baseman just happens to be on the bag and it’s a double play,” he said. “I think we’re getting the ball too much in the air where they can handle it, instead of line drives in the gap. We just got to get back to unselfish at bats and get to our approach and really commit to what we want to do.”

Some of it may be approach, some of it bad luck, either way the Bears have to make some sort of adjustment so they can get back on base and across home plate.

3) Looking ahead to Friday

For HoCo to claim another region championship, Veterans will have to take one off of Tift County and the Bears will have to sweep Lee County in Leesburg on Friday.

Though HoCo has struggled in several games so far this season, they’ve come out with a series win every time.

Veterans lost 17-2 on Tuesday, so the region will have to wait and see who’ll wear the crown this season.

Hopkins isn’t focused on that, though, they’re always focused on what they can control.

“We lost game three two series ago, we lost game two last series and now we’ve lost game one,” Hopkins said. “We responded in the other ones, and hopefully we’ll respond in this one and use it as a growth moment that we can use going forward. Not only for this series, but for the playoffs.”