SPRINGFIELD, Ga. – By putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard, Effingham County is heading where it wants to go – second place in the subregion and a chance to host a best-of-three series in the upcoming region tournament.

The Rebels scored multiple runs in three innings Thursday night to pull away from Evans 9-3 and set up a showdown tonight in Evans for the coveted spot in the four-team subregion.

“We play for the big inning, and our guys buy into it,” said ECHS coach Eric McCombie, whose squad has scored 46 runs during its current four-game winning streak.

Big inning delivers

Sophomore Tucker Wingate delivered the decisive blow, turning a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 advantage with a two-out, three-run home run in the third inning.

Senior right-hander Kyle Thomas kept the Knights in check, scattering four hits and allowing just one run in five innings while striking out eight.

Turning point

Only 10 days ago, the defending region champion Rebels (14-7) were 0-4 in the subregion.

“I have to credit our guys,” McCombie said. “I’m proud of how we’ve responded to that. It’s hard to fight back and compete knowing things are going bad and still show up. The guys never stopped working hard.”

And they never stopped believing in the process.

“We were trying to follow up from last year, and we got into a drought,” Wingate said. “I think we were all trying to go in different directions without a common goal. Coach McCombie pulled us all aside and said we need to go after a common goal. He wants all of us to be leaders and work and show what leadership is all about. We want to be playing in May.”

Capitalizing on mistakes

ECHS’ knockout-punch offense spoiled the return to the area for former South Effingham coach Todd Eubanks, who brought the Knights (17-6) into the series after taking two of three games against Greenbrier, which swept a three-game series from the Rebels.

But miscues cost Evans. Six ECHS players who reached base by walk, hit by pitch or error eventually scored.

The Rebels, who scored their first run on a balk, had just one infield single before Wingate’s home run.

Series momentum

Evans committed four errors in ECHS’ wild 12-9 win in the series opener Tuesday. The Rebels used a seven-run third inning to take a 9-2 lead. When the Knights tied the game at 9, ECHS responded with three runs in the seventh on RBI hits from Thomas and Kaleb Pendley.

The two wins put the Rebels one victory away from a first-round region tournament matchup with South Effingham, which is already locked into third place in the South subregion, for the right to advance to the state tournament.

One more to go

“Tomorrow is a new day. The work isn’t done, and that’s baseball,” McCombie said. “We went into a little funk during the losing streak, and it’s hard to get out of that sometimes. Luck starts to turn when you work hard. I think you make your own luck.”