By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PEARL — George County was playing for a state baseball championship here at Trustmark Park for the fifth time in 10 years this week.

And after breaking through last year to win their first crown in 27 years, unfortunately for the Rebels the latest trip ended just like the first three did.

Saltillo pulled out a pair of close, come-from-behind wins in a 24 hour span to sweep George County in the Class 6A state finals. Saltillo ends the season at 27-5 and heads back to Lee County with its sixth state title overall in tow.

The Rebels end up 24-12, as their attempt to capture back-to-back state titles for the first time in program history came to an abrupt end. It marked the third time in those five trips that GCHS got swept in the final round.

“They were the better team in this series,” veteran GCHS head coach Brandon Davis, who just completed his 14th season at the helm of his alma mater, said. “It was a great year for our program and a great two year run for us.”

All seven of Saltllio’s runs in the series scored in the sixth inning and after, in Tuesday’s 4-3 win in game one in eight innings as well as Wednesday’s 3-1 win to seal the title.

In contrast, all of the Rebel runs came in the first four four innings of play in the series. The Tigers overcame a 3-0 sixth inning deficit in game one in which they were held hit-less until two outs in the bottom of the sixth, as well as a 1-0 deficit entering the sixth inning Wednesday night.

“Those two games are something you can’t script that out to be behind both games to the sixth inning and our guys stick with it, fight, believe in what they’re doing and believing in what we got going on and when it broke loose, we win,” said Saltillo coach Eric Reynolds. “We preach everyday hard work, determination, grit, get after it and be a quality person and this is the award.”

After the stunning loss in game one, the Rebels once again jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in game two thanks to Bryce O’Neal’s RBI-single in the second stanza.

However, the next at bat proved to be a blow to George County’s championship cause when the Rebels loaded the bases with no outs but failed to capitalize and extend the lead as Tiger pitcher Wilson Rodriguez struck out the next three batters to get out of the jam.

In fact, in the two games combined, the Rebels couldn’t add to their leads getting just one hit total in the series combined after taking their biggest lead in each game.

It marked the third time in the past four years that Saltillo faced a team for the “Southern Six” in the state finals, after the Tigers knocked off Pascagoula in three games in 2021 and fell to East Central in three games in 2023.

“That was two great state championship games,” Davis concluded. “I don’t feel like we lost I feel like we got beat. What an amazing job by Saltillo in the late innings with some great at-bats. Hats off to them. We couldn’t get the job done with bases loaded and the heart of order up. It’s part of it and it sucks to lose, but ending the season at Trustmark is a good way to end the season. It’s difficult to get here and I’m proud of these guys for working hard to get back here.”

George County also played for the state championship in 2015, 2016 and 2018, falling to Oxford in two games (2015), Madison Central in two games (2016) and Desoto Central in three games (2018).