By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — George County completed a three game sweep over Pascagoula Saturday afternoon, and in doing so the Rebels kept their aspirations of winning a region alive while leaving the Panthers’ playoff hopes on life support.
George County got past Pascagoula 5-0 in 11 innings in one of the longest prep baseball games in the “Southern Six” this season. The win moved the Rebels to 10-2 in Region 4-6A play with just one week of the regular season left to play, and despite being tied with Picayune atop the region race GCHS has the tie-breaker for the top seed over the Maroon Tide.
Pascagoula, on the other hand, sits in fifth place at 3-9 and must sweep fourth place West Harrison in a three game series next week to sneak into the the upcoming Class 6A South State playoffs.

A trio of Rebel pitchers combined on a four hit 11 inning shutout on Saturday and a pair of Panther hurlers matched them pitch for pitch through the first 10 frames. But the Rebels finally broke through and in a big way in the decisive 11th with five runs to pull out the win.
“Outstanding pitching by our staff along with solid defense and timely hitting is what it takes to win,” veteran George County head coach Brandon Davis said Saturday. “And that’s what we got today.”
In the top of the 11th, Rebel batters Cayler Havard and Tripp Lightsey opened the frame each reaching base on a pair of Panther errors. Garrett Dixon then delivered a two-run single to break the scoring drought and give George County a lead it would never relinquish at 2-0.
After an out on a fielders choice, Jacob Eubanks gave the Rebels some breathing room when he blasted a two-run home run over the left field wall at Tillman field to make it 4-0. Two batters later, after a single by Canyon Reeves, Ben Davis produced an RBI-single to result in the final 5-0 count.

Pascagoula got a single runner on in five different innings but never found a way to score. The biggest Panther threat of the game came in the bottom of the ninth inning, when after one out Denzel Melendez singled followed by walks from Adrian Rosado and Jarad Loper to fill up the bases.
However, George County top relief pitcher Canyon Reeves, at that point in his fourth of five frames of work, came back to strike out the final two Panther batters with the bases loaded to work out of the jam.
Carson Pierce started on the mound and went the first five innings allowing just one hit and striking out six for the Rebels before giving way to Reeves who also tossed five frames striking out eight and scattering three singles to earn the win. Brodi Ceeechi came on in the bottom of the 11th and faced four batters to complete the shutout and pick up a save.

Panther pitcher Griffin Wells deserved a far better fate. The versatile senior standout started and hurled eight shutout innings before leaving the hill with no decision. He scattered just three hits and struck out 10 while walking no one.
Rosado relieved Wells and finished up, giving up seven hits and all five runs while striking out one to suffer the loss.
Eubanks had two hits, including the two run homer, and Blaine Green added two hits to the winning effort for George County.
Melendez had two hits for the Panthers.
While Pascagoula will be fighting for its playoff life this week, George County faces third place Hancock in a three game series. The Hawks were swept in a three game region series by Picayune last week.