The schedule didn’t just fall this way.

Four games in a week. Two on Saturday. All coming against good competition.

The result? Four convincing wins and more confidence than you can imagine for the Adams Christian Rebels heading into a pivotal stretch in the season with two games this week against Central Hinds.

&uot;Our focus right now is on Central Hinds and winning two ball games next week,&uot; AC head coach Gill Morris said. &uot;That’s one of the reasons I set up this four-game week &045; get my pitches some work and get ready for the stretch run. I figured that would be games to get us prepared. I’m proud of the kids, and I’m proud of the seniors.

&uot;I’m as happy as a mole in loose dirt.&uot;

That’s because the areas the Rebels needed to get better in &045; pitching depth, defense, hitting good pitching &045; they did significantly. The 9-8 win over a good Columbia team was the only time the Rebels didn’t put up double digits in runs after hammering Copiah 15-1 Tuesday and Oak Forest 15-2 Friday.

The Rebels finished it up with a 10-8 win over a good Parklane team.

&uot;Columbia is a good team, and they always come out and hit the ball well,&uot; senior David Trisler said. &uot;Parklane is always a tough challenge for us. It’s two wins (on the same day), and it makes it all better.&uot;

The win over Oak Forest was the Rebels’ third of the season over the Yellow Jackets but the most one-sided. They jumped on OFA starter Toby Easterling early and roughed up the Bossier Parish Community College signee.

On Saturday both Columbia and Parklane were low on pitching, but the Rebels still came up big with 13 hits in each game.

&uot;Gill does a great job with them,&uot; Parklane head coach Ken Jackson said. &uot;You’ve got to give them credit. They knew what they needed to do, and they did it. They’ve got a great ball club.&uot;

The pitching staff may have made the most progress just over the course of Friday and Saturday. Corey Walker may have had one of his best outings of the season Friday in the win over Oak Forest, and Trisler and Matt Barnes were solid in their starts Saturday.

Barnes, a freshman, had the challenge of making his first varsity against a tough Parklane team that can hit the ball. He allowed just four hits while going six innings and two batters into the seventh before exiting.

The Rebels played well behind him &045; Ray Simpson’s diving catch ended an inning where the Pioneers left the bases loaded, and Dustin Case took the cutoff from center to throw out Brantley Ray at the plate to end the third.

&uot;I thought David Trisler threw a good ball game the first game, but we just kind of let Columbia hang around,&uot; Morris said. &uot;David is definitely in shape and is a hard worker. But to put a ninth-grader on the mound against Parklane and the tradition they have, he stepped up. Overall, we played good defense. We’ve kind of been lacking in that category. We seem to have our nine on defense.&uot;

The Rebels now enter a stretch in the schedule where the competition will increase along with the stakes. The two games against Central Hinds are big, but the two games the following week with Prairie View may loom even larger.

The Spartans are right up there with Adams Christian in the polls.

&uot;I’m just proud of the kids, and it’s all about the kids,&uot; Morris said. &uot;We’re going to take nothing for granted and prepare. Central Hinds is a solid team. That’s what I heard. I can’t find out anything about them. This is a key series.&uot;

OH SO CLOSE &045; You’ve got to feel for those Natchez High Bulldogs and their seniors. Tuesday night’s 8-7 loss to Forest Hill was not only the worst way to lose a game, but it dashed their hopes of finally getting a division win despite playing so well for most of the game.

Not this season, mind you. Their winless streak in district runs back a couple of seasons dating back to 2001.

&uot;I thought we were going to win our first district game,&uot; NHS head coach Charlie Williams said. &uot;We haven’t won one in three years, and it’s time to win one. I think the last win we had was when Michael Lindsey was here. We’re going to win one. We’re going to win it. We’re going to learn from that game right there. You just go back to the drawing board and try a little harder.&uot;

The Bulldogs did things so well in that game, including a squeeze bunt off the bat of Jeremy Ellis that got a run home in the third. Ellis also made a superb stop and throw on a grounder later, and Edward Johnson made some tough plays at short.

&uot;Jeremy is an excellent bunter,&uot; Williams said. &uot;He did a good job. We’ve got some kids who bunt well &045; Jeremy, Desmond (Smoot) and Ja-Mes (Logan). Those three are really good at getting it down.&uot;

BIG GAME &045; There’s a matter to be settled in MPSA District 6-A, and WCCA didn’t like how the first game with Amite School Center went down.

The Rams will get a chance to improve on that today. They committed eight errors in the 4-3 loss at Liberty, and the Rebels remain undefeated in district.

&uot;We’re just hoping to do better in the field,&uot; WCCA head coach Ray Olive said. &uot;We out-hit them 6-1 but made eight errors to their two. Some of their runs came on errors with two outs. It should have been a 3-2 game. But you have to play through errors.

&uot;We’re doing a lot better on errors right now. We were averaging five or six a game, but the last couple of games we’ve been down. We had zero last game.&uot;

NATCHEZ DOUBLE &045; Parklane Academy and Columbia Academy made the trip over to Natchez this weekend count, getting in not one but two games each.

Both squads faced Trinity and Adams Christian in their journey through Natchez.

&uot;We’re happy to make a trip like this to face two teams in one place,&uot; Columbia coach Kary Bridges said.

Bridges’ team beat Trinity soundly Friday night before falling by one run to AC Saturday.

&uot;They are a very good team,&uot; Bridges said.

Columbia spent the night in Natchez Friday before heading home Saturday afternoon.

Christian Schmidt contributed to this report.