ACCS had plenty of opportunities to fold on Tuesday night against Central Hinds, instead it showed an ability to work out of a jam as the Rebels improved to 5-3 on the year with a 6-2 win over the visiting Cougars.

The potential troubles started early for the Rebels as ACCS pitcher Lee Watts hit the first two Cougar hitters and walked a third to load the bases with no outs in the top of the first. However the Rebels retired the runner at third in a run down for the first out before Watts struck out the next two hitters to get out of the inning unscathed.

The first inning was just a sign of things to come as the Cougars left eight runners in scoring position during the contest.

&uot;We did a good job of getting out of those jams, but many times we were the one who put ourselves in that position,&uot; ACCS head baseball coach Gill Morris said.

It took only one hit in the bottom of the first for the Rebels to move in front 2-0. Trey Mardis scored the first run of the game when he drew a base on balls and scored later in the frame thanks to a Cougar error. Caleb Walker picked up the lone hit of the inning, and he scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Te Riley.

Mardis was also involved in the third run of the game, when he drove home Bruce Wiley with a RBI single in the bottom of the second.

The Rebels lead continued to grow in the third thanks to a 2-run homer by Boo Burchfield that also scored Riley for a 5-0 lead.

Dustin Perry scored the final run of the game for the Cougars when he connected for a solo homer to right in the bottom of the fourth.

The lead looked solid for ACCS as Watts kept the Cougar bats silent in the middle innings, but he began to lose control in the top of the fifth.

After retiring the first batter of the inning, Watts allowed five consecutive batters to reach base as the Cougars cut the Rebel advantage to 6-2.

&uot;Lee threw 90 plus pitches on Friday, and he started to get tired tonight in that fifth inning,&uot; Morris said. &uot;He did a good job before he got tired, and I thought (Glen) Williams came in and really pitched well.&uot;

The freshman came in for relief of Watts and retired two Cougar batters in a row to prevent any further damage. He pitched the final 2 2/3 innings and allowed no runs on three hits while striking out seven.

&uot;We did what we had to do to get the win,&uot; Morris said. &uot;We had them on the ropes a couple of times, but they were able to make a good game of it. What we got tonight, we earned.&uot;