Wolves down Bears and advance to Final Four

WARNER ROBINS, Ga — Houston County Bears have been nearly perfect at home, in 2022. The Houston County Bears hosted the Buford Wolves for the Elite-Eight round of the 2022 GHSA 6A state playoffs. After losing twice in a best of three series, the Bears’ 2022 campaign came to an end. In Game One, the Houston County Bears lost, 4-2. In Game Two, the Houston County Bears won, 7-6.

In Game One, Jackson Gaspard pitched five strikeouts for the Wolves. Brant Bughcum went four-for-four, hit one home run and had two runs batted in. Riley Stanford had two hits and one home run to lead Buford in Game One.

Game Two was close until Houston County scored a solo run in the top of the seventh inning. Following Game Two, momentum swung back towards Houston County. Also after the win in Game Two, Houston Bears Coach Matt Hopkins mentioned how two great teams battled it out for a “great night of baseball.”

The tiebreaker of Game Three began with a single to left field by Garrett Hortman. This gave Houston its lone run of the game. At the top of the second inning, Buford scored two runs and led, 2-1.

In the top of the fourth inning, Buford scored eight runs while remaining at two outs. At this point in the game, the Buford Wolves led, 10-1. The Wolves also scored the final run of the ball game during the fifth inning.

Houston County lost to Buford, with the GHSA umpires calling the game due to the mercy rule and a score of 11-1. After the lost in the state Elite-Eight, Houston County’s Matt Hopkins had some comments.

“Not the ending we had hoped for, but our boys went above and beyond expectations this season,” Hopkins said. “The challenge was to hold the bar and they managed to raise it — an amazing group of kids.”

The Houston County Bears did not repeat for their third state title in four years, but the Bears did go undefeated, winning region 1-6A and the county at 6-0. In 2022, the Houston County Bears have finished 28-6 overall.

Drew Burress finished the season with 17 home runs and 73 runs batted in. Burress also finished his 2022 campaign with a .486 batting average and a slugging percentage of 1.081. He was one RBI shy of the Georgia state record. Gage Harrelson also set a new personal record, alongside setting a new school record in runs with 57. Drew Burress saw the plate 140 times for the Houston County Bears, this spring. In those 140 plate apperances, Burress was only struck out 15 times. The HOCO Bears competed nationally again, in 2022.

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