By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HURLEY — A pair of perennial prep baseball powers in the “Southern Six” that sit just down the road from one another square off Tuesday night in the only meeting between the two teams this season.
Homestanding George County takes on East Central in a big early season battle as each team opens the second week of the new campaign. The Hornets come in at 2-0 under the direction of new head coach Stephen Garrard, while the Rebels are off to an inauspicious 0-3 start under the guidance of veteran head coach Brandon Davis.

East Central started off the season in fine fashion in Garrard’s first week on the job, sweeping Pascagoula in impressive style 4-2 and 15-2.
Brody Long had a home run and a double in the second game and he drove in five RBIS.
George County is coming off a tough 24 hour span over the weekend with a 7-6 road loss to Ocean Springs on Friday and a 13-9 loss at home to arch-rival Greene County Saturday afternoon.
Carson Pierce smacked a grand slam for the Rebels Saturday.

The match-up tonight pits the most tenured prep head coach in the “Southern Six” in Davis, who is in his 15th year at the helm of the Rebels, and Garrad, who is in his first head coaching post after serving as an assistant coach at ECHS for the past decade plus.
Davis has guided GCHS to the state championship round five times in the past 11 seasons, including last season when the Rebels fell in the Class 6A title series.
Garrard, one of seven new head coaches in the “Southern Six” this season, served as the pitching coach for the Hornets when they claimed back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 2022 nd 2023.