NATCHEZ &045; When the count went full with the entire game on the line, Timmy Foster just remembered what he heard all week.

In this type of situation, work the plate from middle out.

That’s where everyone expected the pitch, and that’s where it came from Prairie View pitcher Kurt Rollinson. And Foster obliged the best way he knew how, connecting on a three-run homer over the right-field fence to give the Adams Christian Rebels a dramatic 9-6 win over the Spartans to all but clinch the District 3-AA championship.

The Rebels went into their last at-bat tied at 6-6 following Prairie View’s five-run seventh needing more than one run to hold the tie-breaker over Prairie View. Foster’s blast &045; his second of the game &045; did just that.

&uot;I just hit it where it was pitched and hit it the other way,&uot; said Foster, who crushed a two-run homer in the fifth over the fence in left. &uot;They’ve been pitching away from me ever since we started playing them. We’re a team, and we wanted to keep our composure out there. We knew we had our last at-bat and knew we had to do something out there.

&uot;What can you do? You can’t get down on yourself.&uot;

Foster came up with the walk-off blast again for a lineup that has fed off the efforts of the hard-hitting junior. The Rebels bounced back immediately after taking a shot in the teeth when Matt Hall hit a grand slam in the top half to tie it up at six in a shot that may have deflated AC’s side of the bleachers.

Dustin Case, however, got the momentum back when he clubbed a double in the gap on the first pitch he saw. Prairie elected to walk Cole Bradford to get to Foster, who walked and flied out to short before hitting his first home run.

&uot;Foster is one of the best hitters I’ve seen this year,&uot; Prairie View head coach Mike Hinton said. &uot;He’s a tough out. I thought we had him figured out how to pitch him. We threw him a curveball down and away, and he hit it the other way. We’ll have to start intentionally walking him &045; I don’t know.&uot;

The blast was just what the Rebels needed in order to gain the tie-breaker. Prairie View (8-1, 22-3) won 9-8 on Tuesday thanks to a rally in its last at-bat, and the Rebels needed to win by two to gain the tie-breaker.

A solo homer would have won the game but given the Prairie View the tie-breaker. Even with Case on base, he would have had to hold up at third had Foster or Bradford hit one in the gap.

Now the Rebels (8-1, 16-3) have to win Monday at home against Copiah to claim the District 3-AA championship.

&uot;They hit Timmy the other night up there, but I don’t think it was intentional,&uot; ACCS head coach Gill Morris said. &uot;They were just pitching him inside. Coach (Ron) Rushing told him before he went to the plate &045; two strikes, middle over. We worked on that all week long. He just went with the pitch.

&uot;You don’t hit a ball that far unless it’s on the outer edge of the plate. Who would have thunk it? That’s what you’ve got to have. A home run is the only thing that’s going to win it.&uot;

Prairie View nearly won it with a home run in the seventh to put a sour end to a solid job on the mound from Adams right-hander Corey Walker. He allowed only six hits &045; three of which were infield singles &045; up until Matt Hall came to bat.

The Spartans loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks with two outs, and Brandon Hall’s infield single scored Nikki Russ. Walker ran the count full on Matt Hall before the five-hole hitter crushed one to left center for a grand slam that tied the game at six.

Walker allowed just four hits through six, struck out seven and walked one. He didn’t go three deep into the count until two outs in the fifth.

&uot;I was proud of the way we handled ourselves being down 6-1,&uot; Hinton said. &uot;AC has a good group, and I feel we’ve got a good group. I feel like South State is probably going to come through here. I just think we’ve got two quality teams right here that have a good shot at winning.

&uot;The kid we had at the plate (Matt Hall) &045; that’s the second time he’s done that. He hit a grand slam against Jackson Prep.&uot;

The Rebels struggled in the middle innings scoring runs off Rollinson, although much of it was the Spartans’ defense. Bradford’s triple to center in the first inning scored Ray Simpson and Case, and Bradford scored on a David Trisler sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.

Foster homered in the fifth with Case on, and Jamie Morris homered in the sixth for a 6-1 lead.

&uot;We were up 3-0 but didn’t round the bases until the fifth,&uot; Gill Morris said. &uot;I remember a ball Jamie hit where the right fielder turned completely around and found the ball. They just made good defensive plays. Their third baseman made two or three good defensive plays.&uot;