By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

LUCEDALE — George County and Pearl River Central’s most common opponent on the baseball field over the past four seasons has not been a fellow region foe.

It’s each other.

When the Class 6A South State series finally begins here at Claude Passeau Field on Monday, hopefully, it will mark the 15th meeting in the past five seasons on the diamond between the Rebels and Blue Devils. This will also mark the fourth straight season that one team will end the season for the other in the state playoffs.

The Blue Devils are up slightly 8-6 in the series since the Covid season ended the 2020 season prematurely. However,the Rebels clipped PRC in three games last season also in the Class 6A South State championship series en route to capturing the state title.

“Seems that one of our seasons always end when we play each other, so we both must be doing something right.” veteran Rebel head coach Brandon Davis said. “They sent us home two years in a row and last season we finally broke through. They play baseball well over that way.”

The two teams have gone three games in the playoffs the past three seasons with PRC prevailing in 2022 and 2023 before the Rebels returned the favor last year. They also met five times in the regular season from 2021-2023.

Most of the past 14 meetings between the two teams came with Neil Walther in charge in Carriere, but PRC has a new head coach this season in Buddy Turnage after Walther’s controversial dismissal in the middle of last season.

But all Turnage has done is get PRC right back to the South State championship for the fifth time in the past nine seasons.

“We haven’t seen them yet but it’s the same blueprint,” Davis, who enters his fifth South State championship series at the helm of his alma mater, said. “They throw strikes, play defense and they are scrappy at the plate.”

George County is 22-10 overall while PRC sits at 19-11.

When the season started the Rebels were considered by many prep pundits as the favorite in the South section of Class 6A to return to the state championship game this season after returning four key position players and a trio of their top pitchers from the title winning team of last year. In fact, the senior-laden squad has six players committed to junior college squads for next season.

Pearl River Central, however, has more wins over the Rebels over the past four years than any other opponent.

“They don’t like to lose but we don’t either,” Davis concluded. “It would be nice to even it up.”