Houston County teams power into playoffs

Last Friday was senior night at “The Garden.” That night, the Houston Bears defeated the Northside Eagles for their final regular season double-header. The Northside Eagles have not beaten the Houston County Bears on the diamond, in over 11 years. After the loss, Northside enters the GHSA class 6A state playoff tournament as the fourth seed from region one.

The Houston County Bears are relentless and are looking to repeat as GHSA state 6A champions. The Bears from Houston County will host the Tigers from Alcovy on Wednesday evening.

At 23-4 overall, the Houston County Bears finished their 2021-2022 campaign undefeated in region 1-6A. While finishing as the undefeated region champs, the Bears are yet to be defeated in Warner Robins.

Houston Bears Baseball Coach Matt Hopkins released the following statement: “And just like that the 2022 regular season has come to an end. Could not be prouder of this group. Now the second season begins. 6-0 in county (County champs), 9-0 region 1-6A title champions (first time undefeated), 23-4 regular season, top 20 nationally ranked, and seniors four-year record, so far is 85-29.” On the diamond, Houston County is the team that everyone around the Peach State wants to beat.

“We finished up a clean region schedule!” Coach Hopkins mentioned. “We beat Northside 14-1 and 7-0 on Friday to continue our dominance. Houston County has not lost to Northside in Baseball since 2011.”

Against Houston County, Northside Eagle pitcher DJ Hudson had a 9.69 ERA. Though the Northside Eagles failed to score in Game Two, DJ Hudson did not play his best game thus far. Hudson gave up seven runs and seven hits against the number one team in Georgia.

With the two losses against Houston County, the Northside Eagles fell to 9-17 overall and 0-9 in region 1-6A. The Eagles are also ranked as the fourth seed in their region, which will put the Eagles in a first round matchup against Evans. Evans is the number one seed from region three. This 2022 senior class won GHSA state baseball title in 2019 and 2021. A GHSA 6A state title this year will mark the third state title in four years for these seniors.

In 2022, the Houston County Bears have scored 246 runs and has allowed fewer than 95 runs. This Houston County team is looking fierce as they continue their ten-game winning streak. The Bears are hot at home this season and undefeated in “War-Town.” The Houston County Bears are ranked as the number one team in the Peach State, region 1-6A, as well as atop the Macon area. The Tigers from Covington are 8-22, as they will travel south on Wednesday afternoon. The Alcovy Tigers will continue their tough season in “War-Town,” as they look to beat the best in the Peach State, on the road. Warner Robins was the only Houston County team that did not recieve a spot for the 2022 GHSA Baseball playoffs. Perry will host Shaw, in the class 4A state playoffs. Veterans will travel to Woodward Academy, for their first round matchup in the GHSA 5A state playoffs. Not only have the Bears been the team to beat in our area, but the Bears have been the team to beat in everyone’s list. The Houston County Bears are ranked twenty-second in Perfect Game’s Top-50 high school baseball rankings.

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