The first six Cougars reached base in the top of the first inning on Tuesday night against Centreville Academy, and before the Tigers recorded an out, Brookhaven Academy was up 3-0.

It didn’t get any better for Centreville, as the Panthers added two more first-inning runs and cored 14 more throughout the rest of the contest to win game one of the South State championship series 19-0.

“We really played well in all three phases of the game,” Brookhaven Academy coach Tyler Parvin said. “I really liked that we came out in the first inning and scored, but what was impressive was that we kept attacking. It would have been really easy to get lax, but we kept adding runs.”

The Cougars effectively ended the contest in the second inning after pitcher Tanner Watts struck out the side in the bottom of the inning.

Brookhaven Academy batted around for the second time in two innings in the top of the frame and plated nine runs to push the score out to 14-0.

“We were hitting the ball well,” center fielder Nick Ogden said. “I thought we played well.”

The Cougars were led by O’Neil Burgos in hitting, as the Jones Junior College baseball signee went 4-5 in the contest. Levi Smith and Ogden both had three hits in the game.

Tanner Watts pitched all five innings in the contest for the Cougars, as he struck out 10 and only allowed one hit in the outing.

“I really tried to stay ahead in the count and mix my off-speed in,” Watts said. “We got that big lead, and I wanted to make sure I stayed in the zone. I was able to throw my pitches into the strike zone, and that really helped me.”

“Every time that he takes the mound, he competes,” Parvin said. “That was as good as he’s been all year, and I thought he really competed tonight. He’s always going to throw the ball in the zone, and he did that tonight.”

For good measure, the Cougars added five more runs in the top of the fourth inning to push the lead out to near double-digits.

The Cougars got some reserve players at-bats in the top of the fifth inning, a rare scene in a South State championship series.

The two teams will return to action tonight at Brookhaven Academy with the Cougars only needing one win to advance to the state championship series.

“We’re going to have to make sure they understand that the scoreboard is going to be 0-0 on Thursday night,” Parvin said. “That’s the key. You can 10-run rule somebody, and they can come back and beat you twice in this sport. We have to be ready to go.”