MOULTRIE – Colquitt County squandered a six-run first-inning lead at nippy Packer Park on Friday, but right-hander Cole Holder rode to the rescue in relief in a 9-8 victory over Miami’s Florida Christian High.
Holder walked the first batter he faced and hit the next in relief of starter Cook Tompkins in the top of the third inning.
He also threw a wild pitch that allowed the Patriots to score a run that gave them an 8-7 lead.
But the big junior right-hander retired the final two batters in the third and the next seven he faced after that.
Over the final four innings, he gave up just two hits and did not allow a run while striking out four Patriots.
And he was credited with the win when the Packers scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fifth.
The win was the second in a row for the Packers, who raised their record to 2-3.
They have a chance to reach .500 on Saturday when the Georgia-Florida Challenge continues on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium.
The Florida Christian-Colquitt County game was the second Challenge game on Friday.
Bishop Verot High of Fort Myers, Fla., defeated Creekside High of St. Johns, Fla., 8-2 in Friday’s first game.
On Saturday, John Carroll will face Mater Academy at 11 a.m. and the Packers will play host to Killian High of Miami at 1:30 p.m.
After dropping their first three games of the season, the Packers got in the win column on Tuesday with an 8-3 win over Cook 8-3 in Adel.
And the Packers looked primed to get another win when they scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 7-1 lead over the Patriots.
The seven runs were gifts from a Patriots defense that had trouble gathering in fly balls. None of the runs was earned against Patriots starter Jacob Lopez.
The first two Packer batters – Hayden Hembree and Brady DeRosso – reached on errors: the first a dropped infield fly; the second on an errant infield throw.
Three more Packers reached on misplayed fly balls in the inning, during which the Packers sent 11 batters to the plate.
But the lead did not survive the third inning.
Florida Christian scored a run in the second.
And four of the first five batters in the top of the third reached on base hits off Packers starter Cook Tompkins.
That was when Holder was summoned.
He walked the first batter he faced and after hitting Sebastian Rodriguez with a pitch, a throwing error scored two runs.
Rodriguez scored the go-ahead run on a Holder wild pitch.
Holder retired the next two batters to end the six-run Georgia Christian third.
He also retired the side in the fourth and fifth.
Colquitt regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Carter Penuel singled to right and then went to third when the Patriots botched a pickoff attempt.
Rylan Howell’s double on a fly ball down the line in left drove in Penuel to tie the game.
Two batters later, Brady DeRosso’s infield single scored Howell to give the Packers the 9-8 lead.
And over the final two innings, Holder protected it.
With one out in the sixth, two Patriots reached on an infield hit and an error.
But Holder struck out Ethan Jimenez looking and retired Rowan Plasencia on a foul pop.
Holder faced more problems in the seventh.
After he struck out the first batter, Jorge Fernandez singled to center.
Holder then hit Isaac Lorenzo with a pitch.
But he got the next batter to hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out.
And then, with the tying run on third, Holder, on his 83rd pitch, got Anthony Torres to ground out to third baseman Bryce Roberts to end the game.
After banging out 16 hits in the win over Cook on Tuesday, the Packers were credited with 11 more on Friday, although the evening sky might have helped several of them.
Jake Walker had three hits, including a first-inning double.
Howell had two doubles. Beverly also had a double.
Hembree, DeRosso, Roberts, Penuel and Carter Summerlin also had hits.
Summerlin and Howell each drove in a pair of runs,