MOULTRIE — Bowen DeRosso retired the first 13 batters he faced and took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Colquitt County baseball team earned an 8-1 victory over Valdosta on Tuesday at Packer Park.
The win raises the Packers Region 1-6A record to 6-4 and keeps alive the possibility of a second-place finish and a first-round home state tournament series.

Colquitt, Tift County and Richmond Hill are tied for second place in the region behind 9-1 Lowndes, which run-ruled Tift County 16-1 on Tuesday.

The Packers will travel to Valdosta for a doubleheader on Friday to complete its series with the Wildcats, who fall to 3-7 in the region.
They will face Richmond Hill in the final region series beginning April 8.

The Packers could not have asked more from DeRosso, the sophomore right-hander, who continued his outstanding work on the mound.

He lost his perfect game when Noah Roberts reached on an error with one out in the fifth inning.

Valdosta got two base runners on in the sixth.

Kyler Davis walked but was erased when Turner Samples hit into a fielder’s choice. DeRosso then picked Samples off first to end the inning.

In the seventh, DeRosso needed just one pitch to retire leadoff batter Braeden Lampkin on a ground ball to third.

But Matt Bounds made him work, fouling off four pitches before lining a single over the leaping second baseman Carter Penuel for the Wildcats first hit.

DeRosso said the plan was for him to attack the Valdosta batters with fastballs. Bounds hit one of them.
“He had a good at bat,” DeRosso said. “It was a fastball on the black.”
Packers coach Ryan Strickland agreed.

“You’ve got to give credit to that kid,” he said of Bounds, the Wildcats first baseman. “He battled up there, fouled a few off.”

The hit was the only ball the Wildcats managed to get out of the infield.
DeRosso then walked Stephen Little on four pitches and Strickland replaced him with Ross Sparkman, who was making his first appearance of the year.

Sparkman got Noah Roberts to hit into a fielder’s choice that scored the Wildcats lone run.

But after walking Blake Bowman, he struck out Easton Lehman to end the game.

Strickland wasn’t surprised by DeRosso’s effort.

“There hasn’t been a game this year where he hasn’t been in control,” he said. “Every game he’s thrown 60-70 pitches.”

DeRosso threw 73 pitches on Tuesday, including 50 for strikes.
The win raised DeRosso’s record to 3-1 and lowered his earned run overage to 2.14.

And he is 2-0 with two no-decisions while pitching the first game of each of the Packers four region series.

He has allowed just four earned runs over 20.1 innings in those four starts.
DeRosso had plenty of help against the Wildcats with Packers scoring three times in the bottom of the first inning to give him an early cushion.
And Colquitt defense was solid behind him.

“And that comes from throwing strikes,” Strickland said. “When you are throwing strikes, the defense stays in the game and makes plays.”

After DeRosso struck out the first batter and got the next two on infield rollers, catcher Hayden Hembree opened the bottom of the first inning with a double to left.

After a walk and a sacrifice, Bryce Roberts drove in both runners with a two-base hit of his own.

DeRosso helped his own cause with a run-scoring double in the third to put the Packers up 4-0.

Rylan Howell opened the bottom of the fourth with a bloop single.
It was the only hit the Packers managed in the inning, but they took advantage of three walks and two hit batsmen to score three more runs.
Jake Walker’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly scored Roberts with the final Colquitt County run.

Of the Packers six hits, three were the doubles by Hembree, DeRosso and Roberts.

Roberts, who drove in three runs, also had a single, as did Penuel and Howell.

“I was glad to see our hitters’ approach,” Strickland said. “That is something we’ve been working on.”

The win came on the heels of a disappointing 11-4 loss to Tift County in the second game of their region doubleheader last Friday.

“This was a nice bounce-back for us,” DeRosso said.

The Packers will need to build on the solid Tuesday effort with the two Friday region games against Valdosta and three more against Richmond Hill remaining.

“We need to get these two (on Friday) and still be in position for the No. 2 seed,” Strickland said. “If we do what we are supposed to do, we can host in the first round of the playoffs.”