MOULTRIE — Colquitt County baseball coach Eric McCranie and the players who are veterans of last year’s team cannot have fond memories of playing Houston County.

Although the Bears were just 4-8 in Region 1-AAAAA in 2007 and failed to reach the playoffs, two of their region victories came at the Packers expense.

And Houston scored 37 runs in those two games.

The Bears will be in Moultrie today for a 7 p.m. game against the Packers at Ike Aultman Field at Packer Park. The game will be the region-opener for both teams.

The Packers are 4-3 and have split two games this week, defeating Dougherty 12-2 in six innings on Monday and falling 6-4 to Crisp County in Cordele on Tuesday.

After banging out 15 hits on Monday against the Trojans, the Packers had just five on Tuesday in the loss to the Cougars.

The Packers won four of their final six region games a year ago to qualify for the postseason in McCranie’s first year as head coach.

They will try to continue that success against region opponents tonight.

Junior left-hander John Michael Harrison will get the start for the Packers tonight as they try to end a two-game Houston County winning streak.

The Bears, under new coach Kenny Yanzetich, are 3-4, but have won both of their games this week.

On Monday, the Bears edged Luella 2-1 as senior Kyle Davis pitched a two-hitter and on Tuesday scored three runs in the first inning and went on defeat Lee County 4-2.

And while the Bears have scored just 24 runs in their seven games so far this season, they had nearly that many in their first region game last year.

Playing in high winds that led to some problematic fielding, Houston scored five runs in each of the first four innings and overcame a Packer 10-run fourth inning to win 22-21.

The Bears continued their offensive assault when the teams met in Moultrie in April, pounding out 13 hits and ending a four-game losing streak by mercy-ruling the Packers in six innings, 15-1.

In the other two Region 1-AAAAA-opening games tonight, Tift County will travel to Coffee and Warner Robins will go to Valdosta.

Defending region champion Lowndes will be off on Friday and will open league play on Tuesday at home against Coffee.

Valdosta raised its pre-region record to 6-0 with a 6-2 victory over Madison County, Fla., on Tuesday.