WARNER ROBINS -- Lynn Matthews proudly wore his white and orange University of Tennessee shirt Friday as he watched Tennessee take on Georgia in the first day of the Little League Baseball Southeastern Region Tournament.

He sat surrounded by family and fans of the Tennessee team, but he also clapped softly for a fifth inning run by the Warner Robins team, keeping his hands low in his lap.

A Robins Air Force Base retiree, Matthews’ hometown of Springfield, Tenn., is about 10 miles from Goodlettsville, home of the team representing Tennessee in the regional tournament.

“They know some of the people I know,” he said of the crowd from Goodlettsville. “They go eat up at the Catfish House in my town.”

There is a bit of mixed emotion with his home state team facing the squad from the place he’s called home for the past 40 years, Matthews said, but this isn’t the beginning of his Tennessee-Georgia conflict.

He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee but earned his Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Georgia. He’s held season tickets for both the Vols and Bulldogs.

But make no mistake, he said, “My blood is orange.”

As for the Little League tournament, “I just want them both to play well,” he said.

Matthews is one of 27 volunteers sponsoring the teams during the tournament.

Their job is to “make them feel at home, give them that Georgia welcome,” said Sherry Vincent, who organized the group this year.

They are the teams’ “aunts” and “uncles” for the weeklong tournament.

There are at least two sponsors for each team, including the Georgia team from Warner Robins -- they get a sponsor too.

“They know where to go and all, but (some years) they may not be from around here,” Vincent said, noting local sponsors were useful to the Bartow County softball team representing Georgia in last week’s tournament. “This year, we got lucky and Warner Robins (baseball) made it.”

Wanda Decker, host “aunt” for the South Carolina team, cheered hard for Georgia on Friday.

But if they face South Carolina during the tournament, Decker, who has lived in Warner Robins almost her whole life and never lived in South Carolina, said she’d have to cheer for South Carolina.

“It’ll be hard,” but as long as Warner Robins isn’t playing her sponsor team, she’s with Georgia all the way, she said.

The volunteers get to pick which team they want to sponsor, and at least five of the eight teams have sponsors who are from their home states, including, of course, Warner Robins.

That makes it easy for some sponsors, such as Brad Burfield, who are all about home state pride.

A native of Russellville, Ala., Burfield moved to Warner Robins to work on the base eight years ago. Still, there was no hesitation with his allegiance.

“I’m gonna root for Alabama,” he said, while sporting a checkered University of Alabama baseball cap as the team from Mobile, Ala., warmed up on the field.

The sponsors’ job is pretty simple, Burfield said.

“Just make sure they’re taken care of.”

Johnny Jones, a second sponsor for Tennessee, agreed they’re just there for support and to give suggestions for things like where teams can go to get some good barbecue.

“I’ve noticed with most of the teams, the boys bring a pretty good class of parents, so they’re all right,” he said.

Jones is originally from Lenoir City, Tenn., but has spent more than 45 years in Middle Georgia. He made the move south to Warner Robins in 1965, lured by a job at the Air Force base.

“I would love to get back up there,” Jones, now retired, said of his hometown.

He sat a few rows behind home plate Friday as he murmured words of advice to the Tennessee team facing Georgia and an overwhelming local crowd.

“C’mon, put a bat on the ball. ... Gotta swing. ... You gotta get the bat around,” he said under his breath as players in blue stepped into the batter’s box.

Still, he said he couldn’t root too hard against the red-clad Warner Robins team.

“I would like to see them do well enough to come in second,” he said of Tennessee. “I gotta be for the boys in red.”

To contact writer Caryn Grant, call 744-4347.