Houston County’s Nick Hardee, Peyton Nauss deliver winning RBI in bleak offensive night against Woodstock

WARNER ROBINS — Houston County (4-1) beat Woodstock (1-3) 3-0 on Thursday night for their third straight win and second consecutive shutout, but there wasn’t a whole lot for head coach Matt Hopkins to be happy about following the win.

The Bears’ offense struggled again, striking out 10 times and batting 6-of-27 (.222) overall. They required a lot of help from the Wolverines, who gave away three walks and committed three errors.

Isaiah Galason only reached in the first inning because of an error at third base following a line out and pop out from the first two of the order. Nick Hardee’s single into left field brought Galason home for the first score.

An error, a walk and a dropped third strike loaded the bases in the fifth, and Peyton Nauss got a much-needed two-RBI double out into left field to make it 3-0. That was just HoCo’s fifth hit of the night. The next at-bat was a strikeout, leaving two more runners stranded.

“A lot of guys that are either returning and trying to do too much and trying to fill shoes from last year, instead of just being a little bit better than they were…Some guys that are trying to get comfortable in the lineup,” Hopkins said on the origin of their troubles, which were not limited to Thursday’s game.

“We’ve seen some good arms, and [Woodstock] did a good job at mixing some pitches. It wasn’t big, heavy arms, [but] they mixed pitches and I think we’re guessing and just trying to press instead of just relaxing, seeing the baseball and hitting it,” He continued. “As simple as that sounds it’s what we need to start doing is relaxing a little bit.”

Another issue not exclusive to this iteration of the Bears is a dip in energy in the middle innings. Hopkins called out to his team in the third inning and urged them to pick up the intensity.

Heading into the bottom of the fifth he gathered them in a huddle and, for lack of a better term, chewed them out.

“We always talk about, games are won and lost in the middle innings,” Hopkins said. “A lot of people want to talk about the first two and the last two — they’re the most energetic, they’re easy. But when you get to the three through five it’s where it calms down and the emotions calm. You got to find the will, the want to, the drive, whatever verbs or adjectives you want to do, but you got to find something to push you through those middle innings to stay locked in and focused.”

“I thought that we got kind of down. I thought that the crowd wasn’t as big, and we didn’t react. We’ve had some really good crowds the last few games, and I thought we let the crowd affect us emotionally.”

On a positive note Ethan Kenney and new addition to the ‘pen, Owen Mauney (pronounced moo-knee), looked solid in another shutout.

Pitching is a big question for HoCo this year. Even Tyson Ganas, the most seasoned returner on the mound, is stepping up into a much bigger role.

Kenney pitched off an on last year, but he seemed to have good control and finished with seven strikeouts to one walk. Mauney had an up and down first two varsity innings, but he got the job done.

“Kenney came out and he struggled in the scrimmage game, but since then he’s recovered, he’s done exactly what we ask him to do,” Hopkins said. “He’s throwing multiple pitches for strikes and competing, and gave us five strong innings. We couldn’t ask [for] anything better especially on a pitch count.”

“Mauney did a good job for his first ever varsity innings, competing enough to get through it,” He said of the junior.

UP NEXT

Houston County will return to The Garden on Feb. 20 to face Perry at 6:30 p.m.

Woodstock’s next stop is Carrolton on Feb. 20 at 1 p.m.