By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — Entering its first action in the ninth annual Battle of the Beach Tuesday night here at Tillman Field, George County was off to its best start in five seasons on the baseball diamond.
Starkville Academy ace pitcher Tanner McKee was not impressed, however.
The junior hurler stymied the Rebel batters all night, turning in a three-hit complete game worksheet as the Volunteers handed George County their first loss of the season with a 2-1 decision.
The loss dropped veteran head coach Brandon Davis’ Rebels to 7-1 overall, while SAHS moved to 5-7 on the season.
In addition to an off night at the plate due to McKee’s effectiveness, the Rebels harmed themselves in the field as well committing numerous miscues to contribute to their first defeat of the young campaign.

“You can’t make eight errors and only get three hits against a quality pitcher and expect to win,” Davis surmised immediately afterward. “We pitched well enough to win late and that’s all you can ask for when facing a good pitcher. I feel like this team will learn from our mistakes and be better.
The game was scoreless through the first three frames before the Volunteers broke through against Rebel starting pitcher Andrew Nielsen in the top of the fourth on an RBI-sacrifice bunt by Kade Waltmon to make it 1-0 and give SAHS a lead it would never relinquish.
Two innings later, the Volunteers doubled their advantage to 2-0 thanks to a couple of those aforementioned errors by the Rebels.
McKee, meanwhile, was locked in as he shut out GCHS through the first six stanzas striking out eight batters and scattering two hits.

The Rebels finally got to McKee in the bottom of the seventh, and cut the deficit in half with a run-scoring single by Cayler Havard. After that hit, George County still had a great chance to either tie the game and send it into extra innings or suddenly win it as they had the bases loaded with just one out.
But McKee had one last magic trick left up his sleeve, as he induced Jacob Eubanks into a game-ending double play when he lined out to shortstop and the Rebel runner was doubled off second base.
McKee finished with nine strikeouts in going the distance to earn the win while walking three.
Nielsen was the tough-luck loser with five frames of work, as he and Canyon Reeves combined to allow just four singles in the defeat.
George County’s Blaine Green had a double for the only extra base hit in the game.

It wasn’t McKee’s first big outing against a tough opponent this season, as he hurled six shutout innings and only allowed one hit with 11 strikeouts as Starkville Academy blanked the defending MAIS Class 4A State champion Oak Hill Academy Raiders 8-0 two weeks ago.
Prior to the defeat, GCHS was unbeaten this far into the season since starting 14-0 behind the play of Trevor McDonald and Logan Tanner in 2019.
Despite the loss, Davis was satisfied with the successful start to the campaign.
“We have a great group of young men that have done everything we have asked and they hold themselves accountable,” Davis concluded. “They’re Competitive, and we have played well so far but it’s a long season and we hope to continue what we have started and make a run deep into the playoffs.”