NATCHEZ — Instead of angels, it was errors in the outfield that made the difference for Adams County Christian Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Rebels, they were the ones who committed them, and what likely would have been a pitcher’s duel turned into a lopsided victory for opponent Centreville Academy.

The Tigers won 6-1, and ACCS head coach Hunter McKeivier said at least half of Centreville’s runs came on mental or physical mistakes in the field.

“I’d say four or five of them (were because of errors),” McKeivier said. “These were basic plays that shouldn’t happen that came back and bit us in the butt. It was a 6-1 game that should’ve been a 2-1 game.

“That’s taking nothing away from Centreville, but we helped them extend innings and gave them extra outs, and when the time came for us to extend innings, it did happen.”

ACCS starter Jake Brumfield gave up a solo home run on his first pitch to Centreville’s Hunter Travis. In the third inning, a double by the Tigers’ Brad Jelks scored Travis, giving Centreville a 2-0 lead.

In the next at-bat, the Tigers’ Tyler Towles singled, and then reached third on a fielding error by ACCS right fielder Rusty Blackwell, which allowed Towles to score, making it 3-0 Centreville.

In the top of the fifth, Jelks singled, then stole second. Towles then reached second on a fielding error by ACCS center fielder Bryce Murray, putting Jelks at third. Tigers starter Cliff Hurst singled in Jelks and Towles, and reached second when Rebels shortstop Brandon Sanders dropped a throw from catcher Christopher Perry. The Tigers put in Billy Stewart to courtesy run for Hurst, and Corey Gaulden followed through with a double, knocking Stewart in and making it 6-0 Tigers after five innings.

Hurst was excellent on the mound for the Tigers, holding the ACCS hitters to just two singles through six innings, striking out 10. After walking the first two batters in the top of the seventh, Centreville head coach Jason Horne pulled Hurst and brought in Jelks to relieve.

“He did an outstanding job,” Horne said. “His slider and fastball were working. He got his pitch count up to 109 pitches, and I think he got a little tired at the end.

“It was hard for him, because he wanted to stay in and get the complete game shutout, but we have a long way to go in the season still, and we wanted to save his arm.”

A double by Murray off Jelks drove in the only run for the Rebels, but Jelks struck out Brumfield with bases loaded to end the game.

With the loss, ACCS (9-4, 4-3) will now look ahead to Friday, when it travels to Centreville for a doubleheader. McKeivier said his team would have to show improvement in both fielding and hitting if it wanted to take some wins from the Tigers Friday.

“We have to quit leaving runners in scoring position,” McKeivier said. “I think we had bases loaded twice and failed to come through. We also need to cut down on mental and physical errors.”

Centreville rose to 13-5 on the season, 5-3 in district play.