NATCHEZ &045; Wait until Johnny Lee Hoffpauir hears about this.

On a cold night at Chester Willis Field and the Vidalia Vikings playing without their veteran head coach, the Vikings rung up a five-inning 21-3 win over Brookhaven at the Cellular South Diamond Classic Friday.

For a team that’s having to replace a couple key players from a season ago &045; namely current Southern Miss hurler Barry Bowden &045; the Vikings put together a string of hits to all fields, enough to make assistant coach Tim Herndon do a double take in their first two games of the season.

&uot;Coach Herndon even told us he was surprised at how we hit the ball out here with the little work we put in,&uot; said catcher Chris Williams, who had one of the team’s two homers. &uot;I think we sent a message to the whole state &045; we’re missing Barry, but that shows the team effort we’re putting in. We came out here with a team effort all the way. I’m proud of them, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.&uot;

Nothing was more indicative of a team effort than in the fifth inning when the Vikings scored 14 runs, sent 17 batters to the plate and had 10 batters reach base before Brookhaven registered an out.

The Vidalia bats got hotter as the game went on and as the evening went on. The Vikings opened the tournament with a 7-2 win over Loyd Star.

&uot;We hadn’t been outside since last Monday,&uot; said Herndon, taking over in Hoffpauir’s place with the head coach in Ruston to be with his sons. &uot;I was shocked. My jaw was dropping over at third base. The first game we didn’t swing the bat well, but the second game we had real good approaches at the plate, everybody was getting good pitches to hit and hitting it hard.&uot;

The Vikings finished with 16 hits and took advantage of some Brookhaven miscues in the field to keep the baserunners moving. Reid Simpson, who homered in the third to dead center, singled in two runs at the start of the fifth before Williams went opposite way and lifted a shot over the right-field fence for a 12-3 lead.

And for the senior who’s been a mainstay in recent years behind the plate, it was nice to start off that way.

&uot;My freshman year, everything I hit was to right field,&uot; said the right-handed Williams. &uot;I never pulled a ball. In the first game (tonight) I was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. My team called me down, and I was feeling like a freshman again. I just hope I can keep doing that the whole season.&uot;

Pinch-hitter Patrick Golden then slapped a double to score Brett Hinson and Jeffrey Anderson, and the onslaught was just starting. A couple more runs came across on errors, and Anderson came back up and drilled a triple in the gap to score Williams and Hinson for a 20-3 lead.

Anderson then scored on a wild pitch.

The biggest shot, however, came in the third when Simpson launched his shot to center off Brookhaven starter Scotty Smith. That put the Vikings’ lead at 4-2.

&uot;That’s one of the bigger shots I’ve seen here in a while,&uot; Herndon said. &uot;We don’t get to play here a lot, but that reminded me of some of the old South Natchez games. That’s about as hard a hit ball I’ve seen in a while. If that was in our park, it would have been in the cornfield.&uot;

Hinson, meanwhile, allowed four hits in his four innings before Golden came in to pitch the fifth. Brookhaven got two runs in the second when Xavier Qualls doubled home two runs and another in the fourth when Smith homered.

For a staff that’s trying to find an ace following Bowden’s departure, both Hinson and Ware were promising on Friday. Ware &045; last year’s No. 2 starter &045; threw all five innings in the first game.

&uot;It takes (Ware) a little while to get loosened up,&uot; Herndon said. &uot;Our pitchers are out of shape. He’s going to get better as the season goes on. We don’t have a Barry Bowden, but we have several guys who can be good high school pitchers. We’re in a different position than we’ve been in the last three years. Barry could come in and close or start a game &045; whatever you needed. Now we’re going to have to rely on a couple of different guys.&uot;

Cathedral 7, Natchez High 4

NATCHEZ &045; Cathedral sophomore Corey Walker settled down after a rough first inning to strike out seven over four innings in his team’s win.

He got the support from Wyler Murray and Jeremy Davis for the win. Murray’s triple in the first inning drove in Davis and Te Riley, and Murray scored on a error. Davis singled in a run in the fifth.

Natchez scored two runs in the first inning off Walker on walks and errors.