Diamond Pack drops doubleheader to finish fourth in region

Published 6:59 am Saturday, April 15, 2023

MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County baseball team’s chance to earn a home playoff series was scuttled on Friday when Richmond Hill scored six two-out runs in the fifth inning and held on for an 8-7 victory in the first game of their Region 1-7A doubleheader at Packer Park.

The Wildcats swept the doubleheader and the three-game region series with a 4-1 victory in Friday’s second game.

The Packers, 12-15 overall and 4-8 in the region, finish fourth in the region and will open the playoffs next Friday with a doubleheader against East Coweta in Sharpsburg.

The Region 2 champion Indians are 22-3-1 and ranked No. 11 in Class 7A.

The Packers needed a sweep Richmond Hill combined with a Lowndes sweep of Valdosta on Friday to claim second place in the region.

But Colquitt was unable to hold 5-0 and 7-2 leads in Friday’s first game and then managed just three hits and struck out 11 times in the second.

The Packers lost the three-game series’ opener 6-0 at Richmond Hill on Tuesday with a number of key players sick and unable to perform.

All eight of Richmond Hill’s runs in Friday’s first game came with two out.

In the top of the fifth, Mason Moore, one of those players was ill on Tuesday, appeared to tire in the fifth, when Richmond scored six times to take the lead.

The junior left-hander, who had thrown a no-hitter in a win over Valdosta two weeks earlier, retired the first two batters in the fifth.

But the Wildcats then reeled two singles, a double, a walk, an infield hit, another double and a single by Grant Wagner to drive in the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the inning, after Hayden Hembree singled and Neko Fann doubled to put the potential game-tying and go-ahead runs on, Richmond Hill brought in hard-throwing right-hander Blayne Newman, who retired Landon Griffin on a come-backer to end the inning.

Newman then struck five Packers over the final two scoreless innings to nail down the win.

The Packers had taken advantage of four Richmond Hill errors in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead and scored another unearned run in the second to go up 5-0.

The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the third, but the Packers scored two of their own to go back up by five in the fourth.

But after Newman and Hunter Legas flied out to open the top of the fifth, seven straight Wildcats reached and the Packers could not rally.

The Packers had 10 hits in Friday’s first game, including a double and a single from Fann and two singles by Hembree.

Moore, Landon Griffin, Adam Beverly, Brady DeRosso, Miller Tompkins and Cayden Parker had the others.

Friday’s second game was scoreless until the third inning when Richmond Hill reached Colquitt County starter Cole Holder for a walk, a sacrifice and run-scoring hits by Ty Goldrick and Wagner for a 2-0 lead.

Goldrick, who went 6-for-7 with four doubles and five runs batted in in the doubleheader, used one of those two-base hits to drive in Alex Harwood in the fourth to put the Wildcats up 3-1.

The Packers got their only their only run in the bottom of the fourth when Cam Cook walked, stole second and scored on single by Beverly.

Newman nailed down Richmond Hill’s sweep by holding the Packers scoreless over the final two innings while striking out five.

In 4.1 innings of relief in the two games, Newman struck out 10 Packers.

Richmond Hill will head into the playoffs with a 15-15 overall record. They were 7-5 in the region.