VALDOSTA – Ever since Colquitt County’s 8th grade baseball team pulled out a big walk-off win, 9-8, against Lowndes on March 20 at home, there have been nothing but down-to-the-wire games for these Packers decided in the final innings.

That includes Monday and the road trip to Valdosta Middle School. Colquitt County was down by three runs after five innings only to score five unanswered in the sixth and seventh to win 9-7.

The Packers were behind most of the game, including 2-1 after the first. They held a brief 3-2 lead in the second, but fell back down 5-3 in the fourth and 7-4 in the fifth.

There were, in the linescore, a total of 16 charged errors.

The only Colquitt multi-hit game was from Jeb Johnson with two hits, and Devin Watson was the only Packer with two RBI.

On the mound, Gavin Steptoe struck out four batters in 3 2/3 innings. Tyler Coots also pitched and fanned three Valdosta hitters.

This pattern of wild finishes stretched back to last week. On April 6, the 8th grade Packers went to Berrien Middle and won 7-5 in eight innings after trailing 5-0 through four complete.

Colquitt scored one in the fifth, three in the sixth, a tying run in the seventh and a winner in the eighth.

Jace Autry had two hits and two RBI, Logan Vereen had two hits and Johnson drove home two runs.

The Packer pitching shut down Berrien for four straight innings. Levi Stanfill struck out four batters in 3 2/3 innings while Garry Hill Jr. fanned six in three frames.

It wasn’t all good results, however, for on April 4 at Packer Park Colquitt County lost to Hahira Middle 7-6. That was despite the Packers scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Watson and Jayden Weaver each had two hits while Cais Cook drove in two runs. Steptoe pitched 4 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, and Tucker Pitts threw the remaining 2 2/3.

The 8th grade Packers have one more home game for the 2017 season Thursday at 4 p.m. vs. Pine Grove.