FERRIDAY — Even though Heidelberg Academy head coach Jim Freeze felt that pitcher Derek Beach could’ve done a better job on the mound, Beach did enough to keep Huntington’s hitters guessing.

Beach wound up striking out 10 batters, all from them from the second inning on, and helped his own cause with a four-hit performance as the Rebels crushed the Hounds 12-1 in six innings in Game 1 of the MPSA Class A South State Championship series.

“He wasn’t on. He threw well, but he didn’t have his best stuff,” Freeze said about Beach. “He threw 90 pitches when he should’ve thrown 60.”

Game two of the best-of-three series will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Heidelberg Academy.

After Heidelberg Academy (26-8) scored three runs in the top of the first inning, which included RBI singles by Beach and Stephen Walters, Beach got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the first.

Richard Steele led off with a single and went to second when Beach walked Jody Cottongin. Trey Corbett singled to score Steele and with nobody out the Hounds were in position to put more runs on the board Cottongin at second and Corbett at first.

But then a Phillip Washington pop up bunt that ended in a force out at second and the second out of the inning. Landon Willard then grounded out to Beach to end the inning.

“That took a lot of momentum from us,” Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore said. “It was a lack of execution and bad base-running by a guy who should be watching where the ball is.”

After that, the Rebels dominated the rest of the game. They scored three runs in the top of the second inning, which was keyed by a two-out, two-run home run by Quimby and a solo shot by Beach.

Huntington starting pitcher lasted just an inning and a third and was relieved by Josh Lee, who gave up a single by Ryan Butler, then retired seven batters in a row before the Rebels got to him in the top of the fifth.

Even though the Hounds (18-13) had two runners on in both the second and fifth innings, they couldn’t get the key hits to get a rally going.

“I would call it the fact that we weren’t focused,” Ashmore said. “They looked like they wanted it more. My hat’s off to them. You can’t play like we did.”

Heidelberg Academy scored two more runs in the top of the fifth before scoring four more runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run double by Butler and a two-run home run by Walters.

“We knocked the cover off the baseball,” Freeze said. “Beach hit hard. Quimby hit hard. Walters stepped up. It’s good to come on the road and 10-run somebody.”