By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

SPRINGFIELD – Eight Effingham County seniors trotted onto Rebel Field on Thursday for the Region 1-5A baseball championship game with Greenbrier.

The returning experience of the Rebels and their rise from growing pains were season-long narratives that ultimately came to fruition in a 3-0 win over the Wolfpack for the school’s first region title since 2019.

But a closer inspection shows the coaching staff did some tweaking.

Adam Acel, who suffered a broken arm in the seventh game last season, returned to solidify the defense at shortstop and provided some pop at the top of the batting lineup.

Righthander Luke Edwards, who pitched only 11 innings in 2024, transformed into a go-to ace and junior catcher Karson Thompson came back from an injury to catch every inning except one this season.

“We’ve been playing ball together our whole lives. We have a brotherhood,” Acel said. “Since eighth grade, we knew we had a chance to do something big when we got to high school.”

But injuries have a way of derailing dreams. Acel received another chance to help the Rebels this season and his two-out, two-run double in the second inning pushed ECHS’ lead to a comfortable 3-0 against Greenbrier.

And when he squeezed the final out after a short toss from second baseman Will Floyd, the Rebels had indeed done something big.

Acel saw limited time at shortstop during his high school career, but teammate Kyle Thomas, who started at shortstop last season, advocated for a change.

“I’d like to take credit for that but Kyle Thomas came to me the first week of practice and said, ‘I think we need to put Adam at shortstop and I’ll be a pitcher,’” said coach Eric McCombie about the defensive change. “I told (Thomas), I thought that was the most selfless thing a high school kid could have done. … It seems to have worked out perfectly.”

Acel, a 5-foot-11, 175-pounder, provided a steady lead-off batter with a propensity to do whatever it takes to get on base. He had 25 hits, 22 walks, six hit by pitches and reached on two errors while posting a .411 on-base percentage.

“You have to hand it to him on his preparation and how he handles his business,” McCombie said. “Guys like that are the ones who win you championships.”

Edwards, who signed with Valdosta State, had a similar impact on the Rebels’ pitching staff. He pitched six scoreless innings to get the win against Greenbrier on Thursday, lowering his earned run average to 0.29 (two earned runs in 48.2 innings).

Edwards won key games during subregion play – 2-1 in his first meeting against Greenbrier, no runs in five innings against Lakeside and a 1-0 win (6.2 innings) against Evans.

In the region tournament, he no-hit Statesboro in a 10-2 opening-round victory before stifling Greenbrier a second time.

“(Luke) is going to give us a chance like that every time he’s out there,” McCombie said. “He has the mentality that ‘no one is better than me.’ I’ll put him up against any offense in the state.

“He’s been in every big game for us. At times, we’ve asked him to make one run stick and he did. He’s a special arm.”

Thompson also earned praise Thursday.

“Luke had some good stuff that he was bouncing and KT bottled it up. It’s comforting to know he’s behind the plate,” McCombie said.