By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PEARL — Losing the first game in a best-of-three prep baseball series is never a positive thing.

Nor really is going into a game knowing its a “do-or-die” situation to keep the current season going. However, it’s not like this hasn’t been the case before for George County in the journey for the Rebels to win back-to-back state championships for the first time in program history.

And the Rebels are there once again.

Saltillo rallied from a 3-0 deficit Tuesday night in which the Tigers were held hit-less through almost six full innings but responded with four unanswered runs to end the game and stun George County 4-3 in eight innings here at Trustmark Park.

The decision, coming in game one of the Class 6A state championship series, pushes the Rebels to the brink of elimination as Saltillo can clinch the state title with another win here Wednesday night in game two. The Rebels, meanwhile, need two straight wins over the Tigers to defend the crown they won last year.

But George County has faced this wall before. In fact, Wednesday night will mark the sixth time in the past two seasons that the Rebels have faced elimination.

Veteran head coach Brandon Davis and his squad stand 5-0 when face with elimination in the past 13 months.

“It’s not an unfamiliar situation to us, I mean I feel like we’re built for a three game series.” Davis said Wednesday morning. “It’s a sinking feeling walking off the field after giving up a three run lead late in the game. But there were times even up to that point that we didn’t capitalize on some situations. We haven’t lost a three game series in the last two years. We feel good about where we are coming into game two. Now we have to try our best to get to Saturday.”

Saltillo starter Jordan Evers, despite not factoring into the decision, worked seven stanzas and kept his Tigers within striking distance as he allowed five hits and struck out six.

Rebel starter Preston McAdory wasn’t around for the final decision either, despite tossing a no-hitter until there were two outs in the bottom of the sixth. At one point, he set down 11 straight Tiger batters.

McAdory was sailing right along on the hill until Saltillo’s first-hit of the game was a triple by Class 6A “Mr. Baseball” Baylor Roberts that put the Tigers on the scoreboard and cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

“The momentum shifted right there,” Davis added. “Preston had literally been almost unhittable and that really sparked them. They came alive after that.”

Tiger relief pitcher Korbin Sheffield allowed a single to lead off the top of the eighth before setting down the next three Rebel hitters. He would get the win.

Game two will be a match-up between George County’s Carson Pierce and Saltillo’s Wilson Rodriguez on the mound.

“We feel really good with Wilson on the mound,” Saltillo head coach Eric Reynolds said. “Just let him go out there and do his thing and keep battling and just see what happens.”

George County’s top relief pitcher Canyon Reeves took over for McAdory after the starter issued a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh up 3-1. The Tigers never flinched, however, as three batters later nine-hole hitter Ethan Arriola touched up Reeves for two-run double to knot things up at 3-3 and send it into the decisive extra session.

Davis decided to remove Reeves entering the bottom of the eighth after he’d thrown 21 pitches and sent Chandler Cameron to the mound. If Reeves had thrown four more pitches, he wouldn’t have been available to pitch Wednesday night in game two.

Saltillo’s Smtyhe McCoy delivered the final nail in the comeback coffin at the Rebels when he slapped a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth to end the game. The hit plated Roberts, who led off the final at bat for the Tigers with a long double to left that would have been out of just about any high school stadium in the state.

“They’re not gonna feel sorry for us,” Davis concluded. “I think they feel like they should have won it the past two years. We got Pierce tonight and Canyon and we’ve got to compete. We’ll give it all we got.”