Houston County loses first place in the region with loss to Lee County

WARNER ROBINS — There’s one tired narrative about the Houston County Bears this season: Their energy and effort just hasn’t been where it needs to be at times.

In the fourth inning, after the Lee County Trojans (16-9, 7-6 Region 1-6A) hit a two-run bomb to go up 3-0, HoCo coach Matt Hopkins could be heard from the dugout:

“Welcome to Leesburg guys this is their field…listen to how dead we are. You can’t start in the fourth, you gotta be ready to go, let’s go.”

Unfortunately for the Bears (19-7, 10-3 Region) Hopkins can’t muster the energy for them. He’s said that himself.

HoCo proved that in Tuesday’s 8-2 loss.

PHOTOS: More shots from Tuesday’s action.

The team batted a combined 4-of-19, and had several plays on defense that should have resulted in an out, but were base hits and runs for the Trojans.

“You come into the series, you’re first in the region and you control your own destiny, and I think that’s how we approached it,” Hopkins said. “I think we assumed it was just going to be a little roll through this week.”

Lee County added five runs in the sixth inning. They found a lot of success using bunts; two routine sacrifice bunts ended up RBI singles because the defense didn’t get the ball to first base in time.

Will Allen threw five innings for the Bears, but he hadn’t pitched since the Tift County series, and the rust showed.

Allen is not someone who struggles with walks. He usually has great command of his pitches, but he dished out five of the seven walks HoCo gave up Tuesday.

“He hadn’t thrown since almost 10 days ago…we let him rest because he has never thrown this many innings,” Hopkins said. “When you hadn’t thrown that long and you get in a routine of throwing once a week, it kind of can throw you off. I thought his control and mechanics were off a little early. I thought he settled in after a little while, but it was off early.”

Tucker Hale came in for 0.1 innings in the sixth, but after 25 pitches and five runs Logan Elbie came in to finish the game out.

In 1.2 innings Elbie recorded four strikeouts and allowed two hits.

Troy Carpenter and Isaiah Galason drove in a run each in the seventh, but it was too little too late.

UP NEXT

The Bears finish up region play this week as they travel to Leesburg on Friday, April 12 for a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m.