The George County Rebels won their first state baseball championship since 1997 on Friday at Trustmark Park in Pearl, prevailing 3-2 to sweep the Warren Central Vikings in the Class 6A best-of-three series.
With the score tied at 2 in the top of the seventh inning, Canyon Reeves singled and knocked in Alex Wade for the winning run.
Reeves shut down the Vikings when he was on the mound, coming in with two outs in the fifth and giving up no runs to pick up the biggest win of his life.
It was Reeves’ eighth victory of the season as a closer and solidified his choice as the series MVP.
“Relieved more than anything else,” said George County coach Brandon Davis, who earned his 400th career win with this championship. Davis also won the title as a player on the ’97 team and has now coached his son, Ben, to his first state championship.
“It’s been 27 years and it has taken us four times to get this one,” said Brandon Davis. “It’s even more special because we know the heartache it takes to get here and lose it but now, we know the victory. It’s not the greatest feeling in the world, but it’s close.”
George County’s last appearance in the finals was in 2018. For the Rebels to get over the hump, Davis and his staff talked about putting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense.
“We put a plan in place,” he said. “Coaches can call it, but the team must buy into it. We knew small ball would wreak havoc.”
Both starting pitchers threw well. George County’s Andrew Nielsen went four and two-thirds innings, giving up two unearned runs and five hits, striking out six, and allowing no walks.
Warren Central’s Brooks Willoughby pitched six innings and gave up two runs, including one unearned, with 11 strikeouts.
The Rebels scored first when Tripp Lightsey singled to center with one out in the fourth inning. On a pickoff attempt, Lightsey was able to steal second and went to third when the ball got away. Cayler Havard’s RBI groundout put the Rebels on the board.
The Vikings came back and tied it in the bottom of the fourth as Hays Loper knocked in Maddox Lynch. Cade Fairley, hit by a pitch earlier, ended up at third on the play. Then Nielsen balked home Fairley to put Warren Central up 2-1.
Jacob Eubanks led off the fifth with a double to left. Wade bunted and beat it out for an infield single to put runners at first and third. Eubanks scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2, setting up Reeves’ heroics.
As for a plan on the mound, Reeves had a simple mindset when he entered the fifth, and his statement sums up his mental approach.
“I wanted to come in, do my job, score a run, and go home,” said the junior reliever, who finished the year with an 8-0 record and seven saves.
Reeves thinks George County could be back in 2025.
“We need to keep the same mindset and keep practicing with the intensity that we’ve been doing,” he said. “We practice at a high level and that’s what it takes.”
George County, also a 3-2 winner against Warren Central in the series opener on Wednesday, ended its storybook season at 30-5.
Note: 228 Sports reporter Makenzie Knight interviewed George County coach Brandon Davis and Rebels relief pitcher Canyon Reeves.
