Pack drops doubleheader to Tift, will head to Parkview for first round of playoffs

Published 12:03 am Saturday, April 24, 2021

MOULTRIE – Despite heading into Friday’s final night of the regular season with a 10-18 overall record and a 3-7 mark in Region 1-7A, the Colquitt County baseball team still had an outside chance at finishing second in the region.

The Packers needed to sweep Tift County on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium and have Lowndes sweep Camden County in Valdosta.

Neither happened.

Camden County swept Lowndes 2-1 and 12-2 to claim third place.

And Tift County won both games over the Packers 5-2 and 3-1 to take second place and play host to a first-round state playoff series beginning next Thursday.

Although the swept by Camden, Lowndes won the region with an 8-4 record.

Tiff’s 7-5 record was good enough for second; Camden evened its region record at 6-6, but finished third; and Colquitt was fourth at 3-9.

The Packers will travel to Lilburn to meet Region 4 champion Parkview in a first-round series that will begin with a doubleheader next Thursday. If the Packers and Panthers split, the deciding game would be played the next day.

Lowndes will play host to Newton in the first round; Tift County will be home to play Brookwood; and Camden County will go to Grayson.

Colquitt had plenty of chances to win both games on Friday, but stranded 10 runners in Game 1 and seven in Game 2.

Of the 14 innings the Packers played, they left runners aboard in 12 of them.

Colquitt scored a run in the first inning of the first game when a Gavin Steptoe ground out plated Cannon Whately, who had walked.

The Packers held on to the lead until the fifth when Tift County scored two runs on a single by Lino Acosta, who then scored the inning’s third run on a wild pitch.

Game Horne’s pinch-hit single in the sixth scored Jackson Avera, who was running for Jeb Johnson, and the Packers pulled to within a run.

But a two-run single by catcher Bailey Booth added to the Blue Devils advantage in the top of the seventh and although the Packers loaded he bases in the bottom of the inning, they were unable to push across a run.

The win assured Tift County of finishing in second place.

Tift starter Bryce Stephens pitched 6.2 innings, allowing both Packers runs while striking out five. He did walk five batters, including two in each of the first two innings, but was able to limit the damage.

The Packers had just one hit over the first five innings and finished with five: singles by Steptoe, Horne, Cole Whatley, Pershaun Fann and Jeb Johnson.

Tift had 10 hits in the first game, but the Devils, too, left 10 runners aboard. The Blue Devils left the bases loaded in both the fourth and seventh innings.

There was little on the line in Game 2, but Tift scored twice in the first inning off Colquitt County’s Cameron Summerlin, who allowed the first four Blue Devil batters to reach, including three who walked.

Taft went up 3-0 in the fourth when Tyler Holmes reached on a one-out infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Colby Williamson’s single to center.

That was all the Devils could manage against Summerlin, Garry Hill Jr. and Cais Cook.

But it was enough.

Colquitt’s only run came in the fourth when Gavin Steptoe singled and scored on a Cam Cook’s sacrifice fly.

Steptoe and Henry Underwood each had two hits. Horne had the other.

Summerlin went the first five innings on the mound and gave up all three Tift County runs.

He surrendered three hits and struck out nine.

Hill struck out two of the three  batters he faced in the sixth and Cook struck out one in the seventh.

Parkview will take a 20-10 record and an eight-game winning streak into Thursday’s opening-round doubleheader.

The Panthers were 13-2 last year when the season was cut short because of COVID-19.

In 2019, Parkview went 36-4 and won the Class 7A state championship.

The Panthers are led by Chan Brown, who is in his 17th season as Parkview’s head coach.

He has led the school to state championships in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2019.

His 2012, 2015 and 2018 teams were named national champions.

Brown was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club’s Hall of Fame in 2018 and received the GDC’s Ethics in Coaching Award this year.