Region split at Camden sends Packer baseball to second place

Published 2:34 pm Saturday, April 14, 2018

KINGSLAND – Though head coach Tony Kirkland got the pitching he always seems to get out of Colquitt County High baseball arms Friday, the offense was only good enough for a Region 1-7A doubleheader split at Camden County High.

So the Packers – winners in Game 1 10-0 but on the wrong end of a 2-1 nightcap final – are now 7-3 in 1-7A. Lowndes took sole possession of first place at 8-2 by sweeping Tift County High at home Friday.

Cory Newsome rebounded from a rough outing the weekend before vs. those Lowndes Vikings with a complete-game shutout at Camden. He struck out seven, walked two and scattered seven hits.

The first game was 0-0 through three innings, but the Packers scored in every inning remaining, the contest going seven.

Colquitt had 10 hits, three by senior infielder Raines Plant. Infielder Dylan Dalton had two hits with two RBI, and JC Harden and JT Whatley each drove in two runs.

In Game 2, left-hander Dylan Collins went the distance but was out-dueled by Camden’s Aaron Wainright. Collins surrendered, three hits, walked four and fanned eight, but he gave up single runs in first and second innings.

Wainright, in 6 1/3, gave up seven hits, one unearned run, walked three and struck out nine.

Corey Dowdell of Camden drove in one run on the only multi-hit game for the hosts. Gavin Patel and Whatley each had three hits for the visitors.

The Packers play two at Tift County on April 20.