Jacob Walden throws in relief during Game 1 of Colquitt County High's Region 1-7A tilt vs. Lowndes on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium.

MOULTRIE – C.J. Rose didn’t get a chance to swing the bat in the first inning. Dalton Smith, Jake Hamlin, Reid Wilcher and Dylan Shea did, however. These four Lowndes High Vikings drove in runs in a six-run two-out outburst Friday when both Lowndes and the Colquitt County High Packers began the Region 1-7A baseball season.

Lowndes wound up sending 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the opening frame. Game 1 of the doubleheader then ended in five innings 11-1 on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium.

The Vikings ended the game with 14 total hits to five by the Colquitt County Packers. Three of those Colquitt hits went for extra bases, but unfortunately for coach Tony Kirkland, those doubles were scattered in different innings off Viking starter Cameron Carter.

Carter only struck out two batters in five complete innings, but he also did not issue a walk. The Lowndes fielding did not get charged with an error.

Turner Sircy, left-handed senior, started on the mound for Colquitt. Tyler Andrews, Lowndes shortstop, led off with a double to left. Sircy proceeded to fan the next hitter and get a pop-up in the infield. With second base open, Kirkland ordered the intentional walk to Rose, son of softball legend Carl Rose.

The next batter, however, was major college prospect Dalton Smith, playing in the outfield for this game. On a 2-2 count, Smith singled up the middle. Down 1-0, Sircy found himself in a lot of deep counts unable to get that final out. Carter walked on 3-2 to fill the bags, and right fielder Jake Hamlin brought in all three Vikings on a double to the left-field line.

Wilcher doubled to the same spot as Andrews and Hamlin, putting the score at 5-0. Dylan Shea, the ninth batter in the order and the Lowndes turn, singled to right completing the six-run rally.

Carter gave up a single to freshman shortstop Cannon Whatley in Colquitt’s first inning and a double to catcher Callon Kubiak in the bottom of the second. Alex Bledsoe, No. 9 in the Packer lineup, doubled to lead off the home third and scored on Lucas Tostenson ‘s sacrifice fly (6-1). That despite a strong throw from Smith that the catcher Wilcher could not hold at the plate.

Jacob Walden, pitching in relief for the Packers, worked two scoreless innings and got a caught-stealing throw from Kubiak in Lowndes’ third inning.

But the Vikings added to the lead big with four runs in the top of the fourth on four hits, though only three figured in the scoring. Andrews singled and scored on McCage Pruitt’s single. Lowndes had two runners on due to an error, and Rose drilled a ball to straightaway centerfield that was beyond the reach of Tucker Hathcock.

JT Whatley doubled to the right field wall leading off Colquitt’s fourth, and Bledsoe earned his second hit with a fifth-inning single. But Lowndes scored the run to bring on the five-inning mercy rule in the top of the fifth. Easton Willis got the RBI on a two-out single.