BAKER, LA. – The Brookhaven Academy Cougars traveled to the outskirts of Baton Rouge Tuesday evening to do battle with the Central Private School Rebels, the defending MAIS AA champs from 2013, in the second round of the State AA playoffs.

As expected, this one went down to the wire with the Rebels securing the 3-2 victory on a two-out seeing-eye single over the first base bag in the bottom of the seventh.

“We played a good game tonight but left too many runners in scoring position when we had chances to push them in,” said BA head coach Casey Edwards. “Give CP credit, they made some big time plays defensively when they needed them.”

Edwards continued, “Zach (Dickerson) pitched a solid ballgame for us and got out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning with three strikeouts then stayed in rhythm the rest of the night. We hit some hard balls right at them. If we continue to do that Friday night, I feel good about our chances.”

The Rebels broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the sixth with two runs and the Cougars responded with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh. CP answered with a run scoring two-out single in the bottom of the frame to seal the victory for the Rebels.

Zach Dickerson led the Cougar 12-hit attack with three singles. Jacob Boyd and Landon Nettles had two hits each. Heath Hickman had a single and two RBI’s for BA. JP Jackson, Bailey Warren, Steven Williams and Newt Riley all hit safely to add to the Cougar total.

Dickerson suffered the setback on the mound for the Cougars, striking out eight and issuing just one base on balls in his evening of work.

Thomas Doucet picked up the win for the Rebels in last inning relief of Brandon Trahan.

Central Private will travel to Brookhaven today for game two and game three, if necessary. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 pm at Harold Williams Ballpark on the campus of Brookhaven Academy.