Diamond Pack to face Valdosta

Published 10:43 pm Monday, April 24, 2006

MOULTRIE — With a 2-4 Region 1-AAAAA record and just four league games remaining, the road to the playoffs looks uphill for the Colquitt County High baseball team.

And next step is an unenviable one.

The Packers must travel to Valdosta to take on the region-leading Wildcats at 6 tonight.

And while the Packers will be back at home on Friday, their opponent will be 4-2 Houston County.

The Packers lost to both region opponents in the first tour of the league schedule.

And Valdosta, especially, appears to have some momentum going down the stretch.

Valdosta was not often mentioned as one of the region favorites before the season, especially after going 2-8 in the league last year and failing to make the playoff.

In addition, Scott Shuman, one of the Wildcats top players and son of head coach Bart Shuman, transferred to region rival Tift County.

But Valdosta won its first two region games, lost by one to Lowndes 8-7, and now has won three in a row as it awaits the Packers.

The Wildcats have defeated Coffee 4-3; Colquitt County 7-2; Tift County 6-3; Houston 3-2 in eight innings; and Coffee 9-5 last Friday.

Valdosta is coming off a 9-5 victory over Coffee on Friday that raised their region record to 5-1 and dropped the Trojans to 0-6.

The Wildcats scored three first-inning runs and held on to knock off the Packers 7-2 back on April 4 at Ike Aultman Field.

Valdosta’s Daniel Fowler outdueled the Packers Chance Pitts in that game.

Valdosta also defeated the Packers 12-2 in early March in tournament in Adel.

The Packers are 1-4 in the region since opening with a 15-14, come-from-behind victory over Tift County on March 31 in Tifton.

The Packers followed with the loss to Valdosta, then were stung by Houston County 11-1 and Lowndes 10-0 before regrouping to defeat Coffee 7-5.

Last Friday’s 2-1 loss to Tift County was a bitter one.

The Packers wasted a five-hit pitching performance by Andrew Wallace.

The junior left-hander gave up just two runs, only one of which was earned.

But Wallace was bested by Shuman, who gave up six hits, but just one run on a double by Pitts in the fourth inning.

The Packers had runners on second and third with only one out after the Pitts double, but could not score again.

Packers coach Jerry Croft said it was unlikely that Wallace would go again tonight. Wallace will probably be on the mound when the Packers play host to Houston County on Friday.

Wallace lowered his ERA to 2.65 in the loss to the Blue Devils. He is now 1-4 on the season.

Pitts, 2-1, with a 5.69 ERA, could get the call against the Wildcats tonight.

Wallace and Pitts have been hitting the ball well for the Packers.

Wallace had a double in four trips against Shuman and is leading the Packers in hitting, with a .459 average; hits, with 27; doubles, with seven; runs batted in, with 16; and extra base hits, with nine, including a triple and a home run.

Pitts is batting .379 with four doubles and 13 RBIs.

Carter Jones went 2-for-3 against the 88-90 mph fastballs served up Shuman on Friday and raised his average to .394. His 26 hits and 15 RBIs rank second on the team.

Senior catcher Drew Shealy went 2-for-3 against the Blue Devils and raised his average to .262.

Tift County could move into second place in the region tonight, but will have to beat 4-2 Houston County to do it.

The Bears are coming off a big 6-1 victory over slumping Lowndes on Friday in Warner Robins.

The Vikings were 4-0 before back-to-back losses to Tift County and Houston County.

And the Lowndes hitters have been particularly futile against the Shuman and Houston County starter Brian Wilkerson.

Shuman struck out 13 Vikings in the Blue Devils 4-3 win on April 14.

Wilkerson, the Bears 6-foot-3, 180-pound right-hander, struck out 12 Lowndes batters on Friday in raising his record to 7-1 on the season.

The Bears are 16-5 overall as they prepare to travel to Tifton tonight. Also tonight, Coffee will visit Lowndes.