By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

McKenzie senior Parker Jones had already hit one home run, a blast that put a better cosmetic appearance on what had been a dismal day against Dresden's baseball team.

The visiting Lions had basically had their way with the Rebels, forging an 8-3 lead. For three sraight games, McKenzie has seemingly been the MVP for the opposing team and there seemed to be just a glimmer of hope. The Rebels had trimmed the lead to two, 8-6 in the sixth, then chipped away when Derek Carr scored another run in the seventh with one out.

With two on and one out, MHS coach Lynn Yarbrough asked Jones if he wanted to hit or squeeze bunt?

"Coach, I want to hit," said Jones. "I'm going to do something special."

Seconds later, Jones launched his second homer deep over the left field fence, a three-run job that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. As he rounded third, Jones smiled: "See coach, I told you I was going to do something special."

McKenzie won 10-8 to go 18-6 on the year. But they made it harder than it had to be. The Rebels shoddy and inconsistent play spotted Dresden a 5-0 lead in a five-run second. But like they had in the previous two games where they fell behind, they chipped away and got back in the hunt. At Huntingdon on Tuesday, the Rebels fell behind but couldn't dig out of the hole and lost 7-4. Wednesday, Central got the jump on McKenzie to the tune of a 5-1 advantage, but the Rebs rallied to win 7-5.

"The players bowed up and showed a lot of character again tonight," said Yarbrough. "But we shouldn't have made it this hard."

And from here on in, every game is important, especially since the Rebels split the season series with Huntingdon. The Mustangs are done with their district menu, having gone 9-1. If the Rebels can win their next three 13A games they'll have a good chance to secure the top seed. McKenzie has a road game at Bruceton Monday then host Big Sandy in a twinbill Tuesday. For the Rebels to get the top seed in the district, they need to run the table.

"This was a big comeback win for us and now we have to win out," said Yarbrough. "We want to win the regular season district, get the top seend and win the tournament."

And Yarbrough said having tough struggles like this team has the last three nights could be advantageous.

"Coming back like this the last three games might tell us something about ourselves," said the coach. "It might make us better."

Jones certainly has had the crystal ball lately. He predicted big things in the win over Huntingdon on Monday night. He predicted RBI hits that helped lift McKenzie to an 11-1 win. Jones had three RBI that night and had five Thursday. Jones said he wasn't sure why he's been so prescient. His girlfriend, Jenna Frazier, wants to take credit. Whatever the case, he has had the hot hand and Dresden got burned by it.

The Rebels clawed all the way back to trail 8-6 in the sixth. Jones, the reliever, came into the game in the second inning with mixed results. He gave up back-to-back home runs in fifth, one a two-run shot, the other a solo blast and Dresden took an 8-3 lead. In the sixth Carr singled and scored on Nick Chappell's double. With one out, Jones went yard and cut the lead to two, 8-6.

In the Dresden seventh, Jones got in a spot with two runners on, but wriggled out of the jam after nice play by Carr to get the lead runner at third for the second out and a strikeout. In the Rebel half, Carr was hit by a pitch, stole second and came to third on Chappell's single. Carr scored and Jacob Fussell, running for Chappell, took second. Tyler Holt reached on a weird infield hit, where the ground ball took a bad hop and hit the Dresden shortstop in the face. The game was delayed for about 10 minutes while the Lion infielder got his bearings back. Jones was next with his three-run blast to complete the comeback.

In the second, trailing 5-0, McKenzie scored twice. Tyler Holt singled, Jones singled and reeder reached on a fielder's choice for an RBI. The Rebs plated two runs that inning.

McKenzie heads to Gleason for a 4:30 game on Friday in hopes of avenging an embarrasing 4-0 home loss to the Bulldogs, the first loss against them since 1995. Noon Saturday, the Rebels visit the Class 3A Patriots of Henry County. McKenzie visits Bruceton on Monday, then hosts a twinbill against Big Sandy on Tuesday to close the regular season.