The Effingham County Rebels baseball team had its chances against the Greenbrier Wolfpack.

But the Wolfpack’s vaunted double-barreled pitching tandem of Nolan Belcher and Pat McGowan shut down the Rebels and Greenbrier, the two-time defending Class AAAA state champs, beat the Rebels 5-1 Tuesday night in the Region 3-AAAA playoffs.

Effingham left-hander Zach Dotson held Greenbrier (19-6) to three hits and struck out seven, but the Wolfpack took advantage of five walks and five errors. Four of Greenbrier’s runs were unearned.

“We just didn’t make the plays,” Rebels coach Brett Griffin said. “We didn’t make the routine plays at all.”

Greenbrier scored twice in the first, thanks to an error and a passed ball. McGowan held the Rebels scoreless through five innings.

“We felt we had a chance to win,” Griffin said. “We set ourselves for coming out of the hole against two really, really good pitchers.”

Effingham (14-10) finished with four hits, three of them doubles. Justin Wilson drove in a run with a two-base hit in the sixth, and Dylan Scott and Evan Jarman also had doubles.

But the Rebels also stranded five runners in scoring position.

Greenbrier will host Statesboro on Friday for the Region 3-AAAA championship.

Effingham will face Evans, with the winner earning the No. 3 seed out of the region in the Class AAAA playoffs.