Bryce Roberts will be a key component of the Packers pitching staff next spring. (Connie Southwell/The Moultrie Observer)

MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County baseball team concluded a busy and productive June with a trip to Rome where it is taking part in a camp at Berry College.
The camp includes four games.
“It will be very competitive,” said Packers coach Ryan Strickland, who is starting his second year as the head of Colquitt County baseball.
Strickland and his team are looking forward to playing those games after two June play dates were rained out.
The Packers won 16 games during an injury-plagued 2025 season that Strickland said he believes set the stage for a revitalized program.
But Colquitt will have to replace a strong, 10-member senior class.
Four of those seniors have committed to play at the next level: pitcher Cole Holder at Thomas University, first baseman Jake Walker at Gordon State and outfielder Brady DeRosso and shortstop Adam Beverly at Andrew College.
Just five of the returning players – Bowen DeRosso, Bryce Roberts, Carter Penuel, Carter Strickland and Jaxson Dorminey – had significant playing time in the 2025 season.
“This month we’ve just been trying to find out how things are going to fit,” Strickland said.
One focus of summer work has been building a pitching staff.
Strickland said 23 rising freshmen through senior players have worked on the mound this summer.
“There is a lot of potential there,” he said.
The Packers are expecting to especially count on DeRosso and Roberts to lead the pitching staff next spring.
Both were keys to Packers success last season despite just being sophomores.
DeRosso, who was selected for Team Georgia, which will play in the High School Baseball National Championship Series in Omaha, Neb., on July 4-6, started 12 games for the Packers last spring.
He was named to the All-Region 1-6A first team and received the Dennis Powell Most Valuable Pitcher Award.
Roberts was 3-2 with a 2.14 ERA and was used as both a starter and a reliever.
Both also are key offensive performers as well.
DeRosso started in right field when not on the mound.
Roberts, who hit .333, started the season at second base, but spent most of the season at third base after an injury to Jaxon Chambers.
Returning pitching coach Chance Carter and newcomer Avery Stephens have been working with the pitchers.
Stephens, a former Valdosta High player, has played at Gulf Coast Community College, Mercer University and, most recently, pitched last season at Columbus State.
Returning to Moultrie to join Strickland’s staff is former Packer J.T. Whatley.
A fine first baseman who graduated from Colquitt County in 2020, Whatley played three seasons at Andrew College, where he helped the Tigers win conference championships in 2021 and 2023. He played in the 2023 JUCO World Series.
He finished out his college career with two seasons at Thomas University.
During his collegiate career, he batted .313, hit 30 home runs and drove in 162 runs.
“He is young and hungry,” Strickland said of Whatley. “He cares about Colquitt County baseball and he has hit the ground running.”
Jason Lairsey, another new coach, will join the program soon.
Strickland said the team has not had to work on fundamentals as much as it did last year.
“This summer we’ve been spending much more time on the situational parts of baseball,” he said. “The kids have been showing up and working hard.”
Strickland has been especially pleased with the number of middle school players in the program.
And those young players have benefited this summer from nine weight room sessions under the direction of Colquitt County strength and conditioning coordinator Stan Luttrell.
“He is the best teacher I have ever seen in the weight room,” Strickland said of Luttrell, who has offered strength instruction for 27 years.
“This is going to pay off for us.”
Strickland said he also is pleased to see that more of his players are involved in other sports as well.
“We have a lot more multi-sport athletes now,” he said.
The Packers are losing three coaches from last year’s team, including Kirk Woodall, who will devote his full attention to Colquitt County’s expanding flag football program.
Veteran assistant Danny Blaylock also is stepping away, “But he’ll be around,” Strickland said. “I know he’ll help in any way he can.”