By Dan Smith

Every round of the state playoffs gets tougher, and that will be the case this weekend when the Trojans of Charles Henderson High host a familiar foe in the resurgent Rehobeth Rebels.
Rehobeth will return to Troy with a 21-11 overall record and full of confidence after winning two of three on the road at Tallassee, including the 9-5 deciding game Monday evening.
Tallassee entered the series ranked No. 4 in Class 5A and defeated No. 10 Rehobeth over the weekend in the first game 9-6 but dropped the second game to the Rebels 6-5 before Monday’s deciding contest.
CHHS is 34-2 and ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 5A after identical 11-1 and 11-1 wins over Beauregard this past Friday and Saturday in Troy.
The Trojans won the Class 5A, Area 3 title two weeks ago against Rehobeth by scores of 14-1 and 7-5 in the best two-of-three series, and then outscored the Rebels in the final game 14-8.
CHHS Head Coach Derek Irons is pleased with the way his Trojans opened the 2015 playoffs, but they know things are about to get turned up a notch this weekend.
“I was very pleased with the focus our guys showed against Beauregard, especially with it being an unorthodox series with venue changes, a time change Friday, and postponing Game 2 just moments from the first pitch,” said Irons. “It would have been easy to get rattled and lose focus, but they didn’t and took care of business.
“We’re really excited to be at home again this week against a quality opponent. There’s nothing like playoff baseball at Hogan’s Hole and I’m glad we get to experience it once again this week.
For the Trojans, it took a couple of innings to get the rust out of the swings Friday, but CHHS outscored Beauregard 22-2 in two games.
Against the Hornets, the Trojans riddled Beauregard pitching for 22 runs on 27 hits over 12 innings, while CHHS pitching held them to two runs on seven hits.
Leading hitters over the weekend were DeAndre Pitts who was 4-for-5 with 5 runs batted in; Chase Hartley was 5-for-7; Reilly Fox was 4-for-6 with 4 RBI; Hunter Reeves and Jason Fleming each had three hits; Chase Smartt had three hits, a home run and three RBI, while Nick Lewis and Bryson Gandy had two hits each.
On the mound, senior righty Austin Ingram was dominant in the first game. Beauregard scored one run on two hits in the top of the first inning, but Ingram did not allow another base hit to the Hornets for the remainder of the game in the 11-1 win, striking out seven and walking none.
Senior Cole Wilson got the win on Saturday, allowing one run on five hits while striking out three in the second 11-1 victory.
Game time for the second round of the Class 5A playoffs between CHHS and Rehobeth doubleheader will be 4:30 p.m. A third game, if necessary, will be played Saturday.