With another Georgia high school baseball regular season in the rear view mirror, the Houston County Bears are back in the fold in Class 5A as one of the top teams in the classification.
Head coach Matt Hopkins has his team rolling into the playoffs once again as the Bears are scheduled to play Apalachee in the first round of the postseason with first pitch of the best-of-three series beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23.
This year’s Bears team is equipped to bring home the school’s first baseball GHSA state championship since 2023. Winning this year’s state championship will be the fifth in program history and its third baseball state championship in five seasons.
Houston County finished the regular season with a 25-5 record, as well as a 14-1 record in Region 2-5A, finishing at the top of a difficult region ahead of teams such as Lee County and Coffee.
The Bears finished the regular season on a seven-game win-streak as they outscored their opponents 58-14 in their last seven games of the season.
In its seven-game win streak to finish the season, the Bears defeated teams such as Richmond Hill, Luella, Lee County, East Coweta and nationally-ranked No. 13 Etowah.
The matchup against Etowah was the only one of the season as Houston County came out on top 5-1 in one of their biggest matchups of the season for the Bears. Last season, Houston County made it all the way to the semifinals where the Bears were swept by Pope in two games, ending their season.
With a new opportunity on the horizon, Houston County is in a familiar position as one of the top teams in the classification, gunning for the schools fifth baseball state championship.
This year’s Houston County team brings over plenty of experience that have seen plenty of success during their time in the program.
The Bears bring back key starters that have already found their homes to continue playing baseball in college such as Georgia Gwinnett-commit OF Vick Gann, Chattahoochee Valley Community College OF Kendall Jackson, USF-commit RHP Will Allen, Mercer-commit SS Ethan Buffone, Chattahoochee Valley-commit RHP Max Willhide and Gordon State-commit RHP Tucker Hale.
Allen, Willhide and Hale provide reliable arms in the Houston County bullpen that have had big game experience during their time in the Bears baseball program.
Including both seniors Jackson and Buffone, the Bears have brought back six positional starters as they enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the state.
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