Vidalia comes from behind to beat Jena
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Sophomore Ty Eicemann’s two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning gave Vidalia a come-from-behind 12-11 win over Jena in a wild non-district game Tuesday at Vidalia.
Jarrett Hoffpauir came on in relief for Bubba Wyles in the seventh inning and gave up two unearned runs to get the win and improve his record to 4-0 and Vidalia’s overall record to 10-1.
Hoffpauir was the only Viking player that had multiple hits and an extra-base hit, going 2-for-2 with a double.
&uot;It wasn’t a pretty victory, but it was a victory,&uot; said Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir.
Indeed it wasn’t as the Vikings and the Giants combined for 12 errors – six by each team, which was more than the 11 combined hits by the two teams – five for Vidalia, six for Jena.
There were also six lead changes just in the first four innings of play, the last of which was Vidalia 10, Jena 8 going into the fifth inning.
&uot;It was a game in which they handed it to us on a silver platter, then we handed back to them, and then they handed it back to us,&uot; Hoffpauir said.
Jena scored another run in the top of the fifth to cut Vidalia’s lead to one, setting up a dramatic seventh inning.
&uot;We went into the seventh inning with a one-run lead and a couple of mental mistakes and errors gave them a one-run lead (11-10),&uot; Hoffpauir said.
Jarrett Hoffpauir walked to start the bottom of the seventh, then Wyles reached on a Jena error.
After the next two batters struck out, Ryan Boles drew a walk to load the bases.
After working the count to three balls and two strikes, Eicemann lined a shot to left-centerfield that brought in the tying and winning runs.
&uot;We’ve won games every possible way,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;They showed a tremendous amount of character tonight. But they’ve been that way all season.
Russell Dorton was the losing pitcher for Jena. Dayne Ashley went 2-for-3 with a home run, Jory Coon also homered and Mike Moffett was 2-for-4 for Jena.
Vidalia next plays at Cathedral today starting with the junior varsity game at 4:30 p.m. followed by the varsity game at 6 p.m.