VIDALIA, La. &045; At least Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir was grateful for one thing.

It didn’t rain once all weekend.

The weekend’s Vidalia tournament went about as smoothly as it could go, save for his team’s efficiency at the plate. Even in Saturday night’s 10-0 win over Avoyelles, the Vikings had just five hits and took advantage of some walks and errors to put the game away in five innings.

It overshadowed a strong outing on the mound by freshman Lance Moore, who allowed just two hits. But when the Vikings had only three more, it was cause for a bit of disappointment.

&uot;We didn’t hit all week,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;I’m real proud of my little freshman. He got his first varsity win, and he did well. But overall I thought we didn’t swing the bats well for three games. We still haven’t found that right combination yet. We’ve got to have some support for the bottom of the lineup.&uot;

The Vikings, a team well-known for hitting the fastball well, never could seem to get their timing down against Avoyelles starter Narvelle James. The right-hander threw off-speed stuff most of the game, and the Vikings finally made some good contact in the fourth inning.

But up until then the Vikings took advantage of some walks and errors &045; the Mustangs had three errors in the first and one in the third and three walks and a hit batsmen in the first three innings.

&uot;We made a few errors early, and that put us in a tough situation,&uot; Avoyelles head coach Joey Gauthier said. &uot;(James) is not one of our normal starters. We had three games in this tournament, and we had to get to where we use our best pitcher. We’re young and have two seniors. We’ll keep working hard and keep improving on things we’re not doing well.&uot;

The Vikings had just three hits in the first three innings against James but got some key ones with runners in scoring position. In the first Chris Ensminger’s sacrifice fly scored Tony Hawkins after he reached on an error, and Chris Williams doubled in Mac Ware after Ware reached on an error.

In the third Ware and Reid Simpson walked, and Chris Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Graham Roberts singled in Ware, and Simpson scored on an error to give the Vikings a 4-0 lead.

Hoffpauir came into the game with an altered lineup with Hawkins hitting leadoff instead of Ensminger and Brett Hinson hitting eighth instead of fifth.

&uot;We just couldn’t wait on the ball to get to us,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;We were lunging. I don’t know. We shook up (our lineup) some. Right now we’ve got some kids who haven’t hit who have hit in the past. But I haven’t lost confidence in them. We’ll shake it up again and see what falls out. They play hard, and I expect good things out of them.&uot;

The Vikings broke it open with six in the fourth to enact the 10-run rule. Williams launched a two-run homer over the right-field fence for a 7-0 lead, and Graham Roberts and Jeffrey Anderson each scored on errors.

Hinson reached on an error and scored on a three-base error when the Mustangs misplayed a fly ball in left.

Moore, the tall right-hander in his first start, allowed just two hits while striking out nine and walking two. The Mustangs hit just one ball out of the infield &045; Brandon Jeansonne’s single in the first inning &045; and had the bases loaded with one out in the second before Moore struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.

&uot;We enjoyed the tournament,&uot; Gauthier said. &uot;It was very good competition, and Vidalia puts on a very good tournament.&uot;