After falling to River Oaks (La.) 2-1 Tuesday, the hostBrookhaven Academy Cougars bounced back Thursday night to beat theMustangs 9-3 and 13-6 to take the opening round of the MAIS ClassAA state playoffs.

BA ( 23-6) faces Central Private (La.) in the second round nextweek with the time and place to be determined.

“We looked like ourselves tonight,” said BA first year head coachCasey Edwards. “We were too relaxed last Tuesday over there. Ourpressure was to play like we should. We never felt like our backswere against the wall.”

Rivers Oaks finished the season with a 16-10 worksheet.

“BA has a good program and we are a young team,” said River Oakshead coach Michael Johnston. “We worked hard battling back in bothgames. We just ran out of arms at the end.”

BA 9, River Oaks 3

Tripp Jolly fanned 8 batters and walked 1 to take the win.Absorbing the loss was Jacob Byrd with 2 strikeouts and 3 walks in4 innings. Reliever Taylor Frith finished with no strikeouts and 2walks.

River Oaks took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning ona Vincent Moore home run. BA came back with 6 runs for a 6-1 lead.The Cougars scored 3 runs in the third for a 9-1 lead. The Mustangsadded 2 runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to 9-3.

Powering BA with a pair of doubles and a single was Jolly. BrentHenderson tripled and doubled. Doubling and singling was TylerParvin. Donovan Lorraine and Hunter Franklin each ripped 2 singles.Doubling was Hunter McCullough. Christian Keene singled.

For River Oaks, Jacob Byrd and Casey Rhan collected 2 singlesapiece. John Rockett and P.J. Bedenbender hit safely.

BA 13, River Oaks 6

Powering the Cougars at the plate with a home run and a pair ofdoubles was Will Gatlin. McCullough singled 4 times. Hendersoncollected 2 singles. Keene doubled. Singling were Lorraine, Parvinand Franklin.

Parvin posted the win with 3 strikeouts and 3 walks. FollowingParvin was Keene with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks.

Saddled with the loss was Rockett with 1 strikeout and 2 walks.Ryan MacGregor fanned 1 and walked 2 followed by Casey Rhom andFirth.

For the Mustangs, Moore and MacGregor homered and singled. StephanBragg also homered. Rockett and Byrd singled.

BA went up 5-0 after 2 innings but River Oaks came back to tie it5-all in the top of the fourth. The Cougars outscored the Mustangs8-1 the final 3 innings for the win.