VALDOSTA – Lowndes managed just two hits in the second game of its Region 1-6A doubleheader against Colquitt County on Friday, but they were enough for a 2-1 win.
The victory has the Vikings at atop the region standings with a 5-1 record.
Colquitt is tied for second with Tift County at 4-2.
The Packers-Blue Devils region series will begin with a single game in Tifton on Tuesday and continue with a doubleheader on Friday at Packer Park.
Tift County, 11-3 overall, won just one game in its series with Richmond Hill that concluded Friday.
The Packers, coming off a three-game sweep of Camden County, dropped its first game on Friday at Lowndes 6-3, managing just four hits.
The two-time defending state champion Vikings broke a 3-3 tie on a two-out, two-run home run by Cason Fletcher in the bottom of fourth.
Lowndes added an insurance run in the sixth.
Colquitt knotted the game with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth courtesy of a two-run single by Jake Walker.
But the Packers were blanked the rest of the way by Lowndes relievers Drew Inman and Noah Burnham.
In the first inning of Game 2, the Packers loaded the bases with none out on a pair of walks and an Adam Beverly single.
But Colquitt managed just one run.
And the failure to convert the first-inning opportunity would haunt the Packers.
And it helped squander an outstanding pitching performance by Cook Tompkins.
After Tompkins hit Lowndes leadoff hitter Coleman Lewis with a pitch in the bottom of the first, Lewis scored on an outfield error to tie the game.
And the game remained tied 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Vikings finally managed their only hits off Tompkins.
Fletcher opened the inning by breaking up the no-hitter with a single to center.
Derrick Carter grounded out, moving Fletcher to second.
Burnham then singled to center, driving in Fletcher with the go-ahead run.
Tompkins escaped further damage when he got Trace Harrell to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Packers mounted a two-out threat in the top of the seventh that started when Tyson Hobby singled.
Rylan Howell followed with an infield hit, but Hobby was thrown out at third to end the game.
Colquitt out-hit the Vikings 5-2, but failed to capitalize on the first-inning and seventh-inning opportunities.
Tompkins was the hard-luck losing pitcher.
He allowed just the two singles and one earned run.
He walked two and struck out four Vikings.
Lowndes will continue its quest for another region championship when it plays host to Camden County on Tuesday.
Camden has lost all six of its region games, dropping their series to Colquitt County and Valdosta.