The HoCo Bears baseball team wrapped up their tournament in Hoover, AL this past Saturday and they lost both contests to finish the Perfect Game Showdown at .500. The Bears opened Saturday by playing the #5 nationally ranked Lewisburg Patriots out of Mississippi and the result was a 6-0 Patriots shutout victory thus snapping the Black, Silver, and White’s 88-game streak of plating at least one run.
The last time HoCo baseball was shutout in a game was Game One of the Final Four against the Allatoona Buccaneers back in 2021. The Bears had three hits and held Lewisburg down to a 2-0 lead through 5 1/2 innings but would surrender four runs in the last of the sixth to make the score 6-0.
Tucker Hale was the SP for the Black, Silver, and White in this game and went 4 1/3rd innings, surrendering two earned runs on four hits, walking nobody and striking out five in the process. The Pats’ SP was Ole Miss commit Stone McCaughey and he went six innings surrendering no runs on three hits, walking three, and striking out six in the process. HoCo fell to 7-2 while Lewisburg remained undefeated at the time. HoCo used relievers JT Withers and Raymond Bird in this contest
Later that afternoon, the Bears played their fourth and final game of the tournament and their matchup was against the Spain Park Jaguars out of Hoover and this would be a closely contested ballgame that resulted in a 6-4 Jaguars victory. Both teams plated a run in inning one and Spain Park plated another run in the top of inning two to lead 2-1.
The designated host would plate two runs to lead 3-2 in the last of the fourth before the Jags retook the lead 5-3 after plating three runs in the top of the fifth to keep the lead for good. The Bears plated a run in the last of the fifth and Spain Park plate a run in the first of the sixth to lead 6-4 and that would be the final score of the contest.
Troy Carpenter led HoCo in rbis with two followed by Eli Stephens and Ethan Buffone with one each. The Black, Silver, and White used four pitchers in this contest and they were SP Max Wilhide and relievers Raymond Byrd, Logan Elble, and freshman Isaiah Galason. The Jaguars used three pitchers in this game.
HoCo finishes 2-2 in Hoover and sits at 7-3 overall currently and has made it back home to Central Georgia where they will prep for phase III of the season, region play as they are scheduled to play county and region rival Northside at home on Tuesday but that is weather permitting at this time.
Through it’s first 10 games of 2024, the Bears have plated 84 runs and hit six jacks while they have surrendered 38 runs and have allowed three jacks. The Black, Silver, and White’s current run differential is +46.
