FERRIDAY — For the sixth time in Mitch Ashmore’s 15 years as the head baseball coach at Huntington, the Hounds will compete for the MPSA Class A State Championship.

This will be the third year in a row that Huntington, the District 7-A and South State champions, have made it this far. For the seniors, this will be their final opportunity to win it all after coming up short against Tunica Institute in 2005 and Porter’s Chapel last year.

But it won’t be easy as the 20-13 Hounds will take on District 1-A and North State champion Bayou Academy. Game one of the best-of-three series will be Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Bayou Academy, which is located in Cleveland.

“I don’t know anything about them. I’m sure they’re a good ball club,” Ashmore said. “I don’t know who they play up there. If we can compete with these people, we’ve got a chance. If we take one game off mentally, we’ll get our butts beat.”

Game two will take place Thursday at 7 p.m. at Huntington. Game three, if necessary, will be Saturday at 4 p.m. at Bayou Academy.

One thing that Huntington has going for it is that in its previous two State Championship rounds as well as all three playoff series this year, the Hounds have went three games every time. That experience could very well come in handy at State this time around.

But the one thing Ashmore hopes doesn’t happen is that his team takes a game off like it has during the playoffs.

“We’ve got to swing the bats, throw strikes and cut down on our mistakes,” Ashmore said. “I just hope that we compete at this high of a level.”

After coming back from a one-game-to-none deficit to defeat Heidelberg Academy with a couple of dramatic one-run wins, the Hounds have had a couple of days of rest and will get back to practice today.

“We were emotionally drained after the Heidelberg series. We usually practice today (Sunday), but we took today off,” Ashmore said. “The seniors had a pre-graduation ceremony at First Baptist Church in Ferriday. We probably needed the rest. I think I needed the rest.”

Huntington overcame an early 6-0 deficit on the road to defeat the Rebels 8-7 last Thursday night. Then last Friday night, Game 3 didn’t start until 9 p.m. because of a two-hour weather delay and the Hounds had to hold on for a 9-8 win.

Ashmore said he hopes to have Landon Willard back after he missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. As for who will be on the mound for the Hounds when they take on the Colts in Game 1, Ashmore said he’ll make that decision today.

“This is the first time this season I haven’t eyed them in two days,” Ashmore said.