Buck Blalock works during his winning effort for Colquitt County High Saturday against Baker County (Fla.).

MOULTRIE – Cory Newsome and Buck Blalock put the quality in quality start from the pitcher’s mound, and with enough timely offense Colquitt County High’s baseball club won two out of three games this weekend in the Georgia-Florida Challenge held on Ike Aultman Field at Jerry Croft Stadium.

On Saturday, Blalock pitched into the sixth inning, and that’s when Baker County (Fla.) ended his shutout bid. Wheeler Hunnicut helped things out pitching the remaining innings of a 4-2 Packers win. This game featured two hits – one an RBI double in the second inning – from infielder Austin Singletary and a two-run inning with two errors from the visiting outfield.

Blalock struck out four in 5 1/3 innings. The Packers of coach Tony Kirkland were leading 4-0 when Baker County put together the top-of-the-sixth inning rally. Two runners that were Blalock’s responsibility scored with Hunnicut on the hill off a base hit and sacrifice fly, but the senior then retired the side and worked a shutout seventh for the save.

Singletary’s double brought in Hayden Bledsoe, who reached safely from a single. In the fourth, Singletary had one of three Packer hits to add one more run. The others to reach were Logan Wheeler and Raines Plant. John Samuel Shenker had the only hit of the two-run fifth.

Newsome, on Friday, pitched against Clay High of Green Cove Springs, Fla., a Jacksonville suburb. In seven complete innings, he struck out 11 hitters, scattered four hits, did not walk any and got the 6-3 win. In fact, Newsome had a near-perfect stretch of pitching over four innings, and that was after spotting Clay the lead of 1-0.

The Blue Devils, in the top of the first, got a one-out double to left-center from Cole Escher. Big Tyler Spence, with two outs, singled the opposite way to get the RBI. Newsome fanned the side around all this action, which included catching the corner for the final called strike.

From the second to the fifth innings, Newsome only hit a batter and struck out five.

Kirkland’s pitching was always dependable, though, as Colquitt County’s season began with a 1-3 record. What was the question going into this series of contests was is when would the Packer bats start to contribute.

In the bottom of the second inning, that offensive attack arrived to give the home team a lead it would not give up. Designated hitter Ian Brinson led off with a base hit, and after a good force-play recorded by Clay shortstop Conner Solomon, Gavin Patel – the other shortstop in the game – slapped a single to right. With two outs, senior catcher Jay Saunders smacked an 0-1 pitch deep to left. The double scored both runners.

The Packers added to that 2-1 advantage with three runs in the home third. With two runners on who did not get hits, Bledsoe singled to left on 3-2. One run would score for certain, and an extremely errant relay throw tacked on one more. With Bledsoe taking third on that same throw, he scored on Brinson’s long sacrifice fly to foul ground right.

Saunders doubled a second straight at-bat, this next one with one out in the home fourth. Blalock singled the opposite way for 6-1 Colquitt County.

The Packers left nine runners on base vs. Clay pitching. They had three more hits after going up by five, and that included Singletary’s fifth-inning double.

The Blue Devils put together a two-out rally for two sixth-inning runs. Spence hit a two-run home run to account for all of his team’s RBI. Newsome retired the last four batters he faced, two on strikeouts.

After the win over Baker on Saturday, Colquitt County was on the short-end of a pitcher’s duel against Lincoln High out of Tallahassee. Dylan Barrett and Zach Taylor combined to hold the Packers to one run – that coming in the sixth inning – to win what was their first game of the 2017 season 4-1.

Ethan Phillips of Colquitt pitched out of jam after jam after jam with the help of highlight defense, but the Lincoln gloves proved just as stellar when they needed to be.

Lincoln had two runners in scoring position in the first inning, but Blalock threw one runner out from third base and Shenker dove for a shallow fly in right field. Phillips struck out three in the first two shutout frames, and his only walk allowed was picked-off in a long rundown.

Barrett threw four no-hit innings to counter. There was one error erased by a line-drive double play in the second and one walk issued to Shenker in the fourth.

But in terms of double plays, none could be smother than the one from Singletary to Patel to Wheeler to end the top of the third. Phillips took a shutout effort through the fifth inning adding two more strikeouts and two total hits allowed. In the top of the fifth, Hank Evans singled only to be thrown out trying to steal second by Saunders.

Bledsoe’s infield safety ended the Lincoln no-hit bid as he led off the bottom of the fifth. But Barrett struck out the next two Packers before giving way to Taylor. He ended the inning with a strikeout, stranding Bledsoe on third base.

Lincoln’s offense scored two in the sixth and two more in the seventh off both Phillips and Dylan Collins. All sixth-inning damage happened with two outs, starting with Jesse Hall’s triple to right. Josiah Hiller worked a 3-2 before singling to end the deadlock. Facing Collins, Connor Burk singled, and Hiller rushed home barely avoiding the out.

Blalock’s double and Shenker’s RBI single were back-to-back with two outs in the home sixth. But Lincoln loaded the bases without a hit in the seventh, and two runs scored from an error.

Colquitt’s next baseball is not until next weekend with three games in the Atlanta area against Walton, North Cobb and Hillgrove.