The ACCS Rebels still had an opportunity to get in the MPSA Class AA South State playoffs with a win against either Oak Forest or Copiah Academy Friday afternoon.

Instead, the Rebels lost to Oak Forest 16-2 in their first game of the day and Copiah Academy 10-9 in the final game of the round-robin format to determine which third-place teams out of Districts 4, 5 and 6 would get the two wild-card spots for the playoffs.

In the second game of the day, Copiah Academy rallied from a 4-1 deficit to defeat Oak Forest 6-5.

“We had sore arms. We just gutted it out and tried to play,” ACCS head coach Ron Rushing said. “We played four games in 27 hours. That definitely had an effect. I asked who could do what. I’m proud of them.”

Oak Forest, the visiting team in the first game, broke a 1-1 game with seven runs in the top of the third inning and never looked back. The Yellow Jackets ended the game early with six runs in the top of the fifth.

Yellow Jackets pitcher Colton Lee held the Rebels to just three hits, two of them off the bat of Luke Brumfield, including a double.

Meanwhile, Oak Forest had no trouble hitting the ball as it ended up with 12 hits, eight of them doubles. Jason Thompson had his way at the plate as he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and T. Newstrum added a home run.

ACCS was the visiting team in its second game of the day and that proved to be costly. The Rebels took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but that lead was gone in a hurry as the Colonels scored six runs, four on a grand slam home run by David Hobkirk

ACCS (13-17) scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 9-9, but Copiah won the game with one run in the bottom of the seventh.

Christopher Perry started the second game for ACCS and pitched well for the Rebels in five innings. Brumfield went 3-for-4 and Eric Perry was 2-for-4 with a home run

“He gave up three runs on four hits and five strikeouts,” Rushing said. “He’s a seventh-grader making his first high school start.”

The game against Copiah Academy turned out to be the last for Rushing at ACCS. Rushing will be the new assistant football and baseball coach at Trinity starting next school year while Hunter McKievier will take over for Rushing as head baseball coach in 2008 and he will be an assistant coach for the Rebels’ varsity football team this fall.

“I’ve gotten close with a lot of the guys and I’ll miss them. I wish them the best,” Rushing said. “Coach McKievier is a great guy. He’ll do a great job at ACCS.”