Brookhaven Academy won the state championship series over Tri-County Academy to take home the MAIS AA state championship, the school’s first since 2010.

What happened

The Cougars defeated Amite School Center and Centreville Academy to advance to the state championship series.

Tri-County Academy, after dropping game one to Manchester Academy in the north half championship, came back to win two home games and play for the state title against the Cougars.

In game one, Brookhaven Academy fell behind 4-0 in the first two innings, but the Rebels wouldn’t score another run off starting pitcher Tanner Watts.

The Cougars eventually found their way back into the contest, and two fourth-inning homeruns from O’Neil Burgos and Nick Ogden propelled Brookhaven Academy into the lead.

Ogden would end the game for the Cougars on the mound, as he pitched the final 1.1 innings to put Brookhaven Academy up 1-0 in the series.

Game two and possibly three were slated to occur two days later, but Tri-County Academy elected to postpone the game, or games, because of rain which never fell.

The Cougars’ championship waited 24 hours longer than it had to, but they dominated the Rebels in game two after falling behind early again.

The Rebels put up two runs in the first inning, but starting pitcher Dawson Flowers only allowed two more runs over the duration of the contest to keep Tri-County at bay.

A nine-run inning for the Cougars in the top of the third inning put the game out of reach, and a fifth-inning grand slam from Levi Smith gave the Cougars a 14-3 lead — an opportunity to run-rule the Rebels the next inning.

The Cougars would take advantage of this, as Dawson Flowers coaxed a line drive to Burgos with one out, and he stepped on the first base bag to double off a Tri-County runner to give the Panthers the state championship.

What they said

“I was extremely proud of the kids,” Brookhaven Academy coach Tyler Parvin said. “We worked all year to be in this series, and we were able to come through and win it in the end. (Dawson) Flowers competed on the mound all night, and we threw him because we didn’t want to have to play another game.”

“It was really special to win a state championship with this group of guys,” senior outfielder Levi Smith said. “We worked hard all year.”