Packers bounce back with 4-1 region win over Valdosta

Published 9:27 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023

MOULTRIE – When the Colquitt County took the field against Valdosta on Wednesday on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium, it was natural to wonder how the Packers would react to having been outscored 33-0 in three region games against Lowndes last week.

The Packers answered decisively in the first inning when starter Jaxon Chambers retired the Wildcats in order on three groundouts and Neko Fann hit the first pitch in the bottom of the first for a double and went on to score the team’s first run in 17 innings.

Colquitt added three more runs and rode the strong pitching of Chambers and Cole Holder to beat the Wildcats 4-1 and get its region record up to 3-4 heading into Friday’s region doubleheader at Valdosta.

“We played clean baseball tonight,” Packers coach Brandon Brock said. “You know, if you take care of the baseball and don’t walk a lot of people, you’ll be fine.

“And Valdosta’s a good little team. We beat a team that was 3-0 in the region.”

Chambers went the first four innings and gave up just the single run in the top of the third.

He retired the final five batters he faced.

“It was his first start and he did well,” Brock said. “He had a few rough patches, but he didn’t let things turn into a big inning.

“You avoid a big inning, most times you’re good.”
Chambers gave up just one hit over those four innings before turning the game – and a 2-1 lead – over to Holder, a sophomore making his first varsity appearance.

The big right-hander threw three scoreless innings to get the save. He gave up a pair of singles and two walks, but pitched out of trouble each inning.

A 5-4-3 double play started by Adam Beverly in the seventh after the first Wildcat reached on an error helped Holder nail down the win that raised the Packers’s record to 9-10.

“I told him to be ready and that his time would come,” Brock said. “I was just so proud of his tempo and his demeanor.”

And the Packers used some timely hitting to get back in the win column.

Fann scored in the bottom of the first on a throwing error and after Valdosta tied the game in the third, the Packers quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the inning.

Fann was hit by a pitch to start the inning. He then stole second base and scored on a single by Landon Griffin.

After moving to second on the throw to the plate to try to catch Fann, Griffin went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Mason Moore’s base hit to put the Packers up 3-1.

Moore walked to open the bottom of the fifth and scored the Packers final run on Brady DeRosso’s two-out single.

The Packers managed just six hits, but they made them count while backing up the strong work on the mound by Chambers and Holder.

Brock said his team was upbeat despite having lost three in a row.

“Maybe last week was good for us in the grand scheme of things, even though it sure didn’t feel like it at the time,” he said.

Brock repeated an observation made by Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts after his team was defeated 38-35 by the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII last January.

Hurts said, “You either win or you learn.”

“I’m hoping we did,” Brock said.

Also on Wednesday, Richmond Hill got its first region win, defeating Camden County 9-3.