Houston County advances to third semifinals in four years with sweep of Lassiter

WARNER ROBINS — Going into Monday’s doubleheader against Lassiter, Houston County had yet to lose a game in the state playoffs.

That trend continued as the Bears secured the sweep with an 8-1 win in game two.

Five solid innings from Landon Tankersley, though he had to warm back up after a long second inning, pushed them across the finish line.

PHOTOS: See more shots from Monday’s doubleheader.

Tankersley finished with seven strikeouts and only one earned run. HoCo only allowed two runs through 14 innings on Monday.

“He started out really good [in the] first inning. I thought the second inning, we had a long inning…and I thought that he let that layover kind of get him out of his rhythm,” HoCo coach Matt Hopkins said of Tankersley. “He got back in it and was able to find it. He’s a senior, he’s pitched a lot of innings and he’s done a fantastic job.”

Tankersley was just one part of the Bears’ defense that’s only allowed eight runs through six games in this year’s playoffs.

“Our guys practice hard every day,” Hopkins said. “We’ve got a lot of athletic kids and I’ve said all year that I think this could be our best starting nine defensively that we’ve had yet.”

After a slow outing at the plate in game one, HoCo picked it up early in game two.

The Bears scored five of their eight runs in the second inning, with big help from Vick Gann (and some wind) who blasted a three-run home run that hung and in the air and floated over the left field fence.

That put HoCo up 4-0, and Kendall Jackson stole home on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 before the end of the side.

The next few innings saw the Bears’ bats lay dormant, just for Eli Stephens’s two-out two-RBI laser in to left field brought them alive to inflate the score to 7-1.

Noah Odom scored the final run on a big RBI double in the top of the seventh.

Houston County 3, Lassiter 1

Though the bats had a slow day, the Houston County Bears got it done in game one against the Lassiter Trojans.

Lassiter helped HoCo out with five walks, two of which came in the third innings as the Bears scored all of their runs.

Isaiah Galason led off with a base hit up the middle, and Vick Gann and Kendall Jackson (hit-by-pitch) both walked to load the bases.

Eli Stephens walked in a run and HoCo added two more before the side ended.

“[Lassiter’s Parker Wilson] was keeping us off balance with pitches, but he gave us some free bags and as soon as he gave us some free bags it allowed us to really open up,” HoCo coach Matt Hopkins said.

From there the Bears didn’t record another hit, and finished batting 2-of-18 (.111) for the day.

UP NEXT

Now in their third semifinals in three years, the Bears have a rematch of last year’s state championship as they travel to Pope in Marietta on Saturday, May 11. Game one is scheduled for 2 p.m. and game two will follow.