The Houston County Bears baseball made the trip up to Emerson, GA to play in the LakePoint Tournament for a doubleheader and the Bears got a split. The first game was against the Houston Mustangs out of Germantown, TN and the game was 1-0 HoCo going into the top of the fifth where Houston would plate six runs to take a 6-1 lead into the last of the fifth where the Black, Silver, and White plated a run to trail 6-2 going into the top of the sixth.
HoCo struggled to get outs as the Mustangs were able to get hit after hit and plated 11 runs to lead 17-2 going into the last of the sixth where Houston would close out the game to win 17-2 over the Bears in six innings. It has been over a decade since the Bears surrendered this many runs.
The Black, Silver, and White could not think for long as they had to prep for the nationally ranked Cartersville Purple Hurricanes and HoCo refocused and got down to business as SP Landon Tankersley opened the game by striking out three Cartersville batters and in the last of the first, the Bears got the scoring started when Ethan Buffone grounded out 4 to 3 which would drive in Kendall Jackson to make the score 1-0 HoCo going into the top of the second.
The Purple Hurricanes would make a little noise in the top of the second as Tristan McKibben grounded out 4 to 3 to drive in Andrew Purdy to tie the game at 1 a piece and that would be the score through 2 1/2 innings of play. In the last of the third, Troy Carpenter hit a sac fly to drive in Kendall Jackson to make the score 2-1 which would ultimately be the final score of the game as the rest of the game would go scoreless.
HoCo SP Landon Tankersley pitched even better than one week ago as he went the complete game on the mound surrendering one earned run on two hits, walking one, and striking out eight after throwing 93 pitches. Ethan Buffone and Troy Carpenter were responsible for both of the Black, Silver, and White’s rbis in the contest.
Tristan McKibben was responsible for Cartersville’s lone rbi of the contest and their three pitchers; Ryan Johnson, Nate Russell, and Logan Shrewbury combined to allow two earned runs on four hits, walking five, and striking out three in the process. HoCo currently sits at 18-6 overall and will get prepped to play the Locust Grove Wildcats tomorrow morning at 11am and then return back to Houston County.
Cartersville downed McIntosh 2-1 in their first game and they will play the Cedartown Bulldogs tomorrow evening at 6pm.
