Thorsby earned a second consecutive trip to the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state playoffs with Wednesday’s 9-5 win at Horseshoe Bend.

The game marked the Rebels’ third trip to HBHS in three days because Tuesday’s game—which would have been the decisive game of the best-of-three series—was rained out.

So, Thorsby went back Wednesday and relied on its pitching depth to earn the win.

THS will host Houston Academy in the third round of the state playoffs. The best-of-three series will begin at noon Saturday with another game following the first.

If necessary, a third game would be played Monday.

The Rebels (30-6, the exact same mark as at this point last season) led 5-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but the hosts scored four runs and had the bases loaded with one out when Shane Beam relieved Stephen Mims on the mound.

Beam worked out of the jam and finished the game.

“Anytime you go on the road in the playoffs, it’s hard,” THS Coach Ab Argent said. “I thought Shane stepped up late for us. Our kids battled from the get-go.

“Our goal was to get back to the quarterfinals again, and we did that,” Argent said.

Mims had held HBHS in check until the fourth; he allowed two hits and eight walks while striking out five.

Jace Maddox started the scoring by driving in Jason Price in the first inning.

In the second, Cody Carroll plated Wesley Smitherman with a sacrifice fly, Parker Bryan’s single brought home Mims, Bryan touched the plate and Maddox scored on a balk by the Horseshoe Bend pitcher.

Smitherman and Morgan scored in the third inning, but the Rebels wouldn’t score again until the top of the seventh, when Mims scored on an error and Bryan was brought in by a Price single.