Brett Griffin isn’t fond of invoking the mercy rule on opponents. He’d rather get as many as his players into the game, if the game is getting out of hand.

But there wasn’t much the veteran coach could do to stop the wheels Tuesday evening at Rebel Field.

Effingham ran its record to 2-1 in Region 3-AAAAA and 3-5 overall with a 15-0 romp over Groves, in which the homestanding Rebels had more hits (12) than outs (10).

"You want to get as many kids in as you can. You want pitchers to get innings in," Griffin said. "But it’s OK. We’ll take a win however we can get it. I’m glad the kids came out focused on what they had to do."

Josh Gilliam threw three no-hit innings, fanning six and walking one, while Jesse Whaley struck out three in a perfect inning of relief.

Griffin attempted to get his starting hitters two turns at the plate before turning the bench loose. The first seven spots in the order had two plate appearances each before the end of the second inning.

Eric Knox was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, with a double and a triple. Effingham batters pounded out eight extra-base hits among 12 knocks against Groves.

John Jackson also was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, adding a double, and Alec Arnsdorff had two doubles and one RBI in two at-bats. Kyle Ward, Grayson Seckinger and Josh Edge also collected a double each.

Ward, Seckinger, Edge, John Ratchford, Jack Burns and Justin Sipes each had one RBI.

Effingham scored four times in the first and again in the second and ended the game with a six-spot in the fourth.

"It was a good chance to get a lot of people in the game and see where the other guys at and see who can help us down the road," Griffin said. "There were a lot of positives from today."

Effingham will travel to Ware County today for a region game and will visit Jenkins on Tuesday for a region tilt. The Rebels will host Windsor Forest on March 22.