Lee County takes two of three from Houston County

LEESBURG — After a convincing victory over Houston County in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday, Lee County baseball coach Brandon Brock warned his team not to get complacent.

The Trojans didn’t listen to their coach and dropped a 2-1 decision in the nightcap to split with the defending Class 5A champion Bears Friday night.

But more importantly, Lee’s 5-0 victory over Houston County in the first game coupled with Tuesday’s 8-3 victory over Houston gave the Trojans the season sweep and kept them atop the Region 1-AAAAAA standings.

Region rivals Valdosta and Coffee split a pair of games on Friday, meaning Lee County still owns a two-game lead in the region standings with six region games left in the regular season.

But regardless of the outcomes down the road, the Trojans were more disappointed they lost to Houston County Friday night, especially after thumping the Bears in the first game on Friday.

“There definitely was some complacency,” Brock said. “I don’t know if it was because of spring break week or what, but we didn’t finish.”

In Game 1, Josh Hatcher hurled a complete-game shutout and allowed just two hits. Meanwhile, the offense staked him to a five-run lead in the first inning and the Trojans never looked back. The scoring splurge was highlighted by Spencer Hanson’s RBI single and Tyler McConnell’s single that scored a pair of runs.

In the second game, Hatcher’s RBI single scored Tyler Simon in the first inning to give the Trojans a 1-0 advantage, but Houston rallied to score a pair of runs in the fourth to take the lead, then held on behind Chandler Ring’s complete-game pitching performance.

“Ring did a fantastic job,” Brock said. “We had been absolutely on fire at the plate, but he completely threw water on us.”

The Trojans (15-8 overall, 5-1 Region 1-AAAAAA) managed just four hits in the nightcap. Houston County (9-14, 5-4) stayed just a game behind second-place Valdosta in the region standings.

“We didn’t take any steps forward tonight,” Simon said. “But we’re going to come back and keep working hard.”

Lee County will play host to Coffee in a single game Tuesday night at 5 p.m., then travel to Douglas on April 14 for a doubleheader.

They will close the regular-season with a trio of games against Valdosta.