The Varsity Warrior baseball team hosted the Colquitt County Packers last Friday, taking them out 8-1 in an impressive home victory.

“It was a playoff atmosphere against a playoff team and we brought a lot of energy to allow ourselves to compete to our full potential; we played for each other and not ourselves which made us realize the great team we have,” senior Brett Squiers, who ended the game with two walks and two runs, said.

Senior Debo Sharp started on the mound for the Warriors. The top of the first inning went by in a breeze, earning outs on the first three Packers to come to the plate. The Warriors came out with a bang in the bottom of the first, with senior AJ Diaz sending a fastball over the left field fences for a two-run home run after a one out walk.

After a scoreless second inning, the Packers came within one after scoring a run off a passed ball. Sharp quickly regrouped, striking out a Packer to end the inning with minimal damage. The NC bats finally revived in the bottom of the fourth inning, when senior Devante Cameron hit a solo homerun to left-center field to make it a 3-1 game.

With Sharp still on the mound and dealing inning after inning, the Warriors paved way for a five run fifth inning, capped off by a two RBI double by senior Tristan Dobbs. With a 8-1 lead going into the sixth, head coach Tom Callahan made the decision to rest Sharp the rest of the night, giving Diaz and senior Andrew Greckel an inning to pitch.

“It’s an important win for us so during playoffs, the team will know what level of competition to expect from other regions,” Greckel said.

The Warriors climbed to second in the region and recorded their sixth win in ten games last Friday. NC will play their next game at home this Wednesday against Allatoona  at 5:55 as the team looks to continue its playoff push.