It was too little, too late for the Charles Henderson Trojans Friday night.

The Trojans trailed Rehobeth 9-0 after 3 1/2 innings and made a furious rally, but fell short 9-7.

“We just made a lot of mistakes,” said CHHS head coach Derek Irons. “We competed for 2 1/2 innings, and we won those innings. But, when you don’t compete for 4 1/2 innings, it’s hard to win. It’s really difficult to win games when your focus and enthusiasm isn’t there for all 21 outs on both sides.”

The Trojans scored five runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 9-5, and had the bases loaded with two outs, but Chance Shaver grounded out to end the inning.

CHHS added two more in the sixth, but could not push any runs across in the seventh.

Rehobeth began building its big lead in the third, when it scored on an RBI groundout and a Trojan error.

The Rebels’ big inning was the third, when they pushed across four runs on four hits.

Of the four hits, only one left the infield, as the Rebels got a pair of infield singles and a bunt single.

RHS continued to play small ball in the fifth, turning two walks into three runs, despite a bunt single being the only hit of the inning.

The Rebels also got a solid performance from pitcher William Skipper, who pitched six innings before giving way to Payne Palmer, who picked up the save.

CHHS was led by Chase Connell, who was 2-3 with two doubles and an RBI. K.D. Edenfield also had two hits, while six other Trojans all had one RBI each.

Rehobeth’s Alec Raley was 2-5 with three RBIs.

Following the tough loss, Irons said the Trojans must focus on preparing for the playoffs, rather than dwelling on the defeat.

“The first round of the playoffs is a doubleheader, Saturday’s a doubleheader and Tuesday’s a doubleheader, so what we’ll try to do is approach Saturday and Tuesday like it’s the first round of the playoffs,” Irons said. “We’ll go out there in the first game and compete, and if we win, we’ll work on being able to close it out in the second game. But, if we lose, we’ll try to learn how to bounce back and take the series to game three. Hopefully that’ll be our preparation for the playoffs.”

CHHS plays Brewbaker Tech today at 11 a.m., followed by a game against Beauregard at 5 p.m.