MOULTRIE — Colquitt County baseball coach Jerry Croft expected Chance Pitts to hit this season and the senior first baseman/pitcher has done that.

What Croft did not expect was for Pitts to evolve into the the kind of pitcher who has won his last two starts on a pair of two-hitters.

Last Friday, Pitts beat Westover 11-1 to end the Packers seven-game losing streak.

On Thursday, Pitts again allowed just two hits as the Packers defeated Thomas County Central 7-1 in Thomasville and extended their winning streak to three games.

“He’s gutsy, I can tell you that,” Croft said of Pitts who gave up a leadoff home run to Taylor Welch in the fourth inning and a meaningless single in the sixth.

“He throws it around the plate. He changes speeds and he keeps it down. When you throw strikes and play a little defense, you’ve got a chance to win.”

After defeating Worth County 17-9 in the season opener, the Packers lost seven straight, giving up 90 runs in the process.

But in the three games since, Pitts knocked off Westover 11-1, sophomore left-hander Andrew McDowell beat the Trojans 10-3 on Tuesday and then Pitts came back with another beauty on Thursday.

Pitts struck out six, walked three and hit a batter.

And the Colquitt County offense, which appears to be stirring in the last three games as well, gave him some early support. Andrew Wallace stroked a two-run double in the second inning to give Pitts all the runs he would need. Colquitt scored another in fifth and two more in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Drew Shealy had two hits and drove in a pair of runs. Wallace had one hit and drove in three runs.

Pitts, Sam Heath, Tyler Perryman, Scotty DeMott and Cory Bridwell had the other hits.

The victory was especially gratifying after the Packers allowed Thomas County Central to score 13 runs in the final two innings of a 17-7 loss at Ike Aultman Field on March 15.

“That was a good win for us,” Croft said. “It is nice to be playing real baseball again.

“I told them after the game that this is just another step in us turning the corner and regaining some respect for Packer baseball.

The Packers, now 4-7, will return to Ike Aultman Field on Wednesday, March 29, to meet Lincoln High of Tallahassee.

The Region 1-AAAAA portion of the Colquitt County schedule kicks in on Friday, March 31, when the Packers travel to Tifton to meet Tift County High, currently 12-1.

The first home Region 1-AAAAA game will be on April 4 against Valdosta.