After getting a first-round bye by virtue of winning the district, Brookhaven Academy will start playoff action Tuesday night as they travel to Amite School for game one of a best-of-three series.

The two teams will do battle at Amite at 7 p.m., and they’ll play game two of the series at Brookhaven Academy on Thursday at 5 p.m. An if-necessary game-three would be played immediately following game two.

The Cougars spent the bye playing a tune-up doubleheader against Starkville Academy over the weekend. Brookhaven Academy split the two contests, but Cougar head coach Tyler Parvin said that he was encouraged by what he saw in the contest.

“Obviously you want to win, but this was about getting ready for the playoffs,” Parvin said. “We had some really good competition on the mound, and at the plate. That makes us better, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

The Cougars will send junior Tanner Watts to the mound tonight against Amite County, and Parvin said that everyone will be available and that there’s no set rotation going into the second game of the series.

“Tanner has been great for us all year, and we’re confident with him having the ball in game one,” Parvin said. “He can fill up the strike zone. He throws three pitches for strikes, and that really keeps team off balance. We have a lot of confidence in him.”

Watts has been nails for the Cougars this year, coming into tonight’s contest with a 1.5 ERA on the season. Watts has struck out 21 in 18.2 innings, and has a .86 WHIP for the year.

The Cougars have flashed potent offensive numbers throughout the season, as they have eight regulars hitting over .300

O’Neil Burgos leads the team in hitting with a .463 average, and the senior is slugging over 1.000 for the season, good for a 1.682 OPS.

The Cougars have played Amite School twice this season, and while they’ve outscored them 31-3 over the two contests, Parvin said that the Rebels have improved a lot over the season and will pose a tough task for the Cougars.

The Cougars went undefeated in district, and went undefeated against MAIS 2A competition throughout the season.

“We like where we are going into the playoffs,” Parvin said. “We’ve played well as of late, and if we’re playing well we know that we’ll have a shot to win every game that we play.”