By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Both George County and Poplarville took a major stride towards winning region titles Tuesday night.

One just a bit bigger than the other, maybe.

Both the Rebels and Hornets each came up with key league wins, as George County toppled visiting West Jones 6-0 in Region 3-6A action and Poplarville clipped Columbia 7-3 on the road in Region 7-4A play.

The pair of decisions kept the respective victors perfect and atop their region standings with time fleeting in the league schedule for each.

In Lucedale, Senior standout Carson Pierce hurled a six-hit, complete game shut-out to lead the Rebels over the Mustangs. George County moves to 16-7 overall, but more importantly, 7-0 in the region race while West Jones drops to 6-1 in league play.

Chandler Cameron had two hits, including a triple, and Grant Reeves posted a two-run triple for GCHS while Cayler Havard also had two hits in the winning effort.

These two teams wrap up this series in Soso Thursday night, and each wraps up region play next week as the Rebels face Terry and the Mustangs take on Hattiesburg.

Meanwhile, in Poplarville, Trip Jones collected game-high totals in both hits and RBIs with three apiece in the 7-3 win.

Jones contributed the big blow with a two-run single in a decisive four run sixth stanza as his Hornets erased an early 3-1 deficit with six straight unanswered runs to pull out the win.

Ty Keys had two hits and Chase Sones an RBI-double for PHS in the win as well.

Aiden Smith picked up the pitching win in relief, with just over four frames of shutout work.

The Hornets are 16-7 overall and 7-0 in the region race, while the Wildcats are 8-2 in the loop and wrap up thier part of the league schedule this week. These two teams, though, meet two more times with the title on the line beginning Friday night in Poplarville before heading back to Columbia Saturday afternoon.

Poplarville then faces third place McComb next week to finish up region play.