MOULTRIE — Lowndes completed its Region 1-7A sweep of Colquitt County on Thursday at Noel George Field, blanking the Packers 2-0 and 13-0.

Lowndes had won the first game of the series 5-0 on Tuesday at Packer Park.

Over the last two seasons, the Vikings, who won the Class 7A state championship last year, have won all six games against the Packers by a combined 53-0.

The Packers have now lost 13 straight games to the Vikings.

Lowndes, ranked No. 2 in Class 7A behind Parkview, is now 16-3 this season and raised its region record to 5-2.

Colquitt falls to 10-10 overall and 2-4 in the region.

In Thursday’s first game, the Packers wasted a strong effort from sophomore right-hander Logan Plymel, who gave up just three hits.

Unfortunately for the Packers, one of those hits was a two-run homer by Lowndes catcher Nate Slaughter that followed a Coleman Lewis single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Packers managed just three hits against Lowndes right-hander Ashton Bohler, singles by Bryce Roberts, Tyson Hobby and Brady DeRosso.

Bohler, who went the distance, walked two and struck out seven.

After scoring just seven runs in the first two games of the series, Lowndes broke loose in the second game of Thursday’s twin bill.

The Vikings scored five runs in the first inning, added three in the third and put the Packers away with five more in the fifth and final inning of the rule-rule victory.

Lowndes shelled Cook Tompkins, Cole Holder and Gabe Eubanks for 13 hits, including homers by Coleman Lewis and Carson Page.

Matthew Kerrigan pitched all five innings and gave up just one hit, a one-out single to Roberts in the third inning.

The Packers will travel to Valdosta on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game against the Wildcats to open their region series.

The Packers and Wildcats are scheduled to meet in a doubleheader on Friday, March 29, on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium to complete the series.

Valdosta is 7-8 overall and 1-2 in the region after dropping two of three games in its season-opening region series with Camden County this week.

Camden County won the first game 2-0 on Tuesday and the two teams split on Thursday, with Valdosta taking the first game 3-2 and Camden holding off Valdosta 6-4 in the nightcap.Lowndes leads the region with its 5-1 record and is followed by Camden County, 3-3; Colquitt County, 2-4; Richmond Hill, 1-2; and Valdosta 1-2.

Camden County and Richmond Hill will open their three-game region series with a single game on Tuesday at Richmond Hill.

Earlier in the week, Lowndes won 5-0 over the Packers in Moultrie.

Lowndes senior right-hander Noah Thigpen went the distance, allowing just five hits as the Vikings raised their record to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the region.

Lowndes was never able to build on its early lead on Tuesday.

And that was thanks to a strong, cool performance by Colquitt County freshman right-hander Bowen DeRosso, who pitched all seven innings and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

“He got better as the game went on,” Packers coach Brandon Brock said. “He’s done that a couple of times already this season.

“But the ball kind of bounced their way and all their runs came with two out. You just can’t afford to make any mistakes against them. But I think our guys saw that if you take away that one big inning, we can play with them. I don’t know if they felt that last year.”

The Vikings set the tone early, with third baseman Sirmans reaching on a one-out infield hit to deep short in the top of the first.

DeRosso struck out Thigpen, but Lewis doubled to right-center to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

Slaughter blooped the next pitch over the head of Packers first baseman Jake Walker to score Lewis.

Ty Macera followed with a single to left and scored on a wild throw from the outfield and the Vikings were up 3-0.

Carson Fletcher opened the top of the second with an infield hit and came around to score on a fielder’s choice.

DeRosso retired the first two Lowndes batters in the third before Matthew Kerrigan singled to right and Jude Jaramillo doubled to left to extend the lead to 5-0.

Fletcher was retired on a fly to right to end the inning and DeRosso went on to retire the next nine batters before Fletcher got a two-out single to center.

He then set down the final four Vikings he faced.

DeRosso threw only 90 pitches and went to three balls on just one batter. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.

But as well as DeRosso pitched, Thigpen, a veteran of the Vikings’ state championship season, was better.

He gave up a single to Bryce Roberts to open the bottom of the first, but stranded him.

Adam Beverly singled to lead off the second, was sacrificed to second and moved to third on Jake Walker’s base hit.

But Thigpen fanned Hayden Hembree and got the final out when third baseman Sirmans grabbed a hard grounde ball, did a 360 and threw out Brady DeRosso to end the inning, stranding both base runners.

Over the next five innings, Thigpen allowed just three Packers to reach.

Brady DeRosso drew a two-out walk in the fifth, but was left. Cam Cook ripped a one-out double in the sixth, but went no further.

And after Tyson Hobby singled to right to open the bottom of the seventh, Lowndes second baseman Page ranged far to his left to flag down Walker’s ground ball and start a 4-6-3 double play.

“They are as sound a team as I’ve ever coached against,” Brock said. “They are fast, they’ve got great arms, they’ve got 17 seniors and they’ve played in a lot of big games.”

What do the Packers have to do to make a run at one of the state’s top programs?

“We have to challenge them,” he said. “We didn’t do that tonight. We were never a threat to them tonight.

“But our time is coming.”

PACKERS NOTES:

Cook’s double in the sixth inning was his 12th of the season. His doubles account for nearly half of his 25 total hits.

In the Vikings dugout was Matt Crews, who left Lowndes to become the Colquitt County head baseball coach in 2020. Crews resigned after going 14-32 in two seasons in Moultrie, returned to the Vikings staff and was a member of the Lowndes state championship staff last year.

Crews said after the game that he was pleased to see Cook and Mason Moore performing so well for the Packers.

He brought the two then-freshmen up to the Colquitt County varsity in 2021.

The Packers played without starting third baseman Jaxon Chambers, who suffered a strained wrist in practice. He was replaced in the lineup against the Vikings by Ethan Allegood.

Brock said that Moore, the Packers’ All-Region pitcher/outfielder, will have elbow surgery after the season and will only serve as the Packers designated hitter the rest of the season.

Moore has signed to play at Tallahassee Community College next season.

The last time the Packers defeated Lowndes was on March 12, 2021, when Jeb Johnson threw a 1-hitter and Pershaun Fann scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader at Packer Park.