JACKSON &045; The Adams County Christian School Rebels thought they had an advantage over defending MPSA Class AAA state champion Hillcrest going into their matchup against the Cougars Tuesday night.

ACCS had Douglas Davis on the mound against a Hillcrest team that hadn’t hit the ball as well as it did last season while Hillcrest had a first-year coach taking on veteran coach Gill Morris.

It still didn’t seem to matter as the

No. 4 Cougars proved why they are the defending state champs with a 10-5 win over the No. 7 Rebels to start another key District 2-AAA series.

Joey Tackett pitched six innings for Hillcrest (12-3, 5-2), striking out nine batters and allowing eight hits to pick up the win.

&uot;They’re better than I thought they were,&uot; Morris said. &uot;We were outplayed and outcoached. They ran us ragged on the bases. We did not play well.&uot;

Hillcrest scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning to jump out to an early 4-0 lead while Tackett kept AC scoreless through the first four innings.

The Rebels finally got on the board with one run in the top of the fifth, but the Cougars put the game out of reach by scoring six runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth for a 10-1 lead.

&uot;That fifth inning killed us,&uot; Morris said. &uot;They took advantage of everything. Four of their runs in the fifth were with two outs. They went single, single, then we got two outs, then single, single, then we had an error, double, double.&uot;

Forest Hill 8, Natchez High 0

JACKSON &045; Even though the Bulldogs are a better team than they have been in recent years, they were no match for the Rebels Tuesday night.

Natchez (5-8) was held to just two hits while its defense committed five errors, much to the dismay of head coach Charlie Williams.

&uot;We’ve had five hits in the last two games,&uot; Williams said. &uot;We can’t win that way. Then we commit a ton of errors. We’re our own worst enemy right now. But we’re going to get it together.&uot;

Franklin County 12, Amite County 1

LIBERTY &045; What was a good game for two innings quickly turned into a lopsided contest as the Bulldogs defeated the Trojans in six innings in a Division 7-3A game Tuesday night.

Tyler Cummins was outstanding on the mound for Franklin County (6-4, 3-1) as he struck out 13 Trojan batters, allowed just two hits and walked just two.