TCHS enters week atop Region 1

Mar. 27—TIFTON — Tift County opens this week of Region 1-6A baseball action standing alone in first place.

The Blue Devils are 9-0 in 1-6A. Houston County, defending state champions, began in second place are splitting a doubleheader last week at Thomas County Central. The Bears are 8-1.

Tift and Houston were to have battled Tuesday, but heavy rains pushed the game at Devil Diamond back to Thursday 5:30 p.m. The Blue Devils are still set to visit Houston in Warner Robins on Friday.

Few regular series in Georgia will match teams this highly ranked. MaxPreps' ranking system considers the Blue Devils to be the best in Class 6A and Houston second; Score Atlanta has Houston No. 1 and Tift No. 3.

In falling to Thomas County Central, the Bears lost their first region contest since the second game of a doubleheader at Valdosta in 2021. TCC pulled out of a 3-3 tie last Thursday with eight runs over the final three innings.

Though Tift County has been excellent at the plate, pitching has been even stronger this season. Their team ERA is at 1.51 with all three usual starters sitting at 1.77 or less. Ryan Whitley, John Davis and John Dorman all threw shutouts against Northside (Warner Robins). Davis has 46 strikeouts in 32 innings.

Tift is hitting right at .300 as a team, with Mac Brooks, Davis, Tyler Holmes, Brady Moretz and Landon Parrish the regulars hitting at least that. Moretz leads with a .469 mark. Parrish tops the squad in runs scored (22) and Dorman (16) in RBIs.

Beyond the top two, Region 1-6A currently has Lee County in third at 5-4 and TCC fourth at 3-6. With Veterans and Northside at 2-7 and 0-9, respectively, the Blue Devils have clinched a berth in the state tournament.

Other matchups this week has Lee and Thomas County Central and Northside and Veterans.

After this week, all Region 1 teams will have one more series to go against a conference opponent. That won't happen immediately as all schools take a break from one another next week.

This final week features Tift-Veterans, Houston-Lee and TCC-Northside.