The Houston County Bears’ baseball team made the trip north to Henry Co to play the Ola Mustangs in a heavyweight matchup to prep both teams for the playoffs that begin next week and the result was a Bears’ victory 11-7. The host jumped on the Black, Silver, and White in the last of the first by plating three runs to lead 3-0 which would be the score heading into the top half of the third inning.
HoCo would get on the board in inning three when Kendall Jackson hit a two run jack to drive in himself and Isaiah Galason to cut the gap down to 3-2 Ola and Ty Waters would tie the game at 3 a piece with an rbi double to drive in Caleb Adkison and that would be the score heading into the last of the third.
The Mustangs would retake the lead in the last of the third to lead 4-3 going into inning four and HoCo would tie the game back up at 4 when Christian Wahiwe scored on an E8 and the score would remain gridlocked going into inning five. The Bears would get the lead when Caleb Adkison scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-4 HoCo and Christian Wahiwe would hit a sac fly to drive in Hudson Sherman to make the score 6-4 Bears heading into the last of inning five.
The top of the sixth is where the Black, Silver, and White would seal the game and it started with Eli Stephens hitting a two rbi double deep to right to drive in Vick Gann and Kendall Jackson to make the score 8-4 in favor of the visitors and Will Allen would hit an rbi single to get in on the scoring party by driving in Caleb Adkison to push the score to 9-4 HoCo.
Christian Wahiwe hit a ground ball and would barely beat the tag to first that would drive in Ty Waters and Will Allen to make the score 11-4 and these runs were scored on an E6 and the game would go to the last of the sixth where the host would cut into the deficit by plating three runs to trail 11-7 as the game headed into the final inning of the contest.
The Bears were unable to get any traffic on the bases in the first of the seventh but they were able to keep Ola off the board in the last of the seventh and ended the game with a 6-4-3 double play to win 11-7. This game saw HoCo’s offense start slow once again but this time they would get the bats going and have a productive night in plating several runs.
Eli Stephens and Kendall Jackson were named co-McDonalds Players of the Game as they led the Bears in rbis with two a piece followed by Ty Waters, Will Allen, and Christian Wahiwe with one a piece. Daniel Mendez led the Mustangs in rbis with two followed by Rece Leathers, James McGee, Braden Pourron, and Dayton Bruce with one each.
HoCo SP Will Allen pitched four innings on the bump and surrendered four runs (one earned) on three hits, walking one, and striking out three in the process while his reliever Tucker Hale pitched the remaining three innings and he surrendered three earned runs on five hits, walking two, and striking out one in the process.
Ola used five pitchers (all righties) and they combined to allow 11 runs (eight earned) on 11 hits, walking five, and striking out two in the process. HoCo improves to 22-7 overall while the Mustangs fall to 23-5 overall and these two will meet at The Garden on Thursday to finish both team’s regular seasons.
Elsewhere, Mary Persons picked up a 10-0 shutout home victory over rival Jackson on senior night in five innings and are moving closer to capturing the region crown. MP will play at Jackson tomorrow in a doubleheader and the Gold, Black, and White need a split to become region champs.
