Vikings, Monterey get wins

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 1, 2004

ALEXANDRIA, La. &045; Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir had to do a double take.

Fresh off a disappointing loss to Oak Grove on Monday, the Vikings turned it around on Thursday to take a 9-3 win over Class 4A Tioga at the Bolton tournament at Bringhurst Field in Alexandria.

The Vikings got a couple of homers, a well-pitched game out of Mac Ware and a solid effort defensively.

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&uot;We made some defensive plays &045; definitely plays we didn’t make on Monday,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;I was real, real pleased with the way we played tonight. We beat a good baseball team tonight.&uot;

The Vikings got on the board with two in the third with two runs to tie it up after the Indians scored two runs in the first off Ware. Reid Simpson cranked a homer off the scoreboard for the first run, and Chris Williams followed with another homer to tie it at 2-2.

Two more runs in the inning gave Vidalia a 4-2 lead and two in the fourth to increase the lead. In the sixth, Brett Hinson doubled and scored on a Chris Williams double for a 7-3 lead.

Jena 9, Monterey 3

HARRISONBURG, La. &045; The Wolves battled and tied it up midway through against a good Class 3A Jena team before an error late allowed the Giants to break the five-inning game open.

The Giants scored five in the fifth after holding just a 4-2 lead after four innings. The Wolves got a run in the bottom half when Chad Thomas singled in Jordan Tiffee but couldn’t mount a rally.

&uot;I was tickled going into the bottom of the fifth inning,&uot; Monterey head coach Hank Zizzi said. &uot;You’re never real happy with a loss, but with such improvement I’m not really upset. It was much-improved over the first ball game with them.&uot;

Jena took a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third before the Wolves tacked on two. Ryan Perkins reached on an error and scored on a Thomas double, and Ryan Kemp doubled on Thomas to cut the lead to one.

Franklin County 4, Natchez 2

NATCHEZ &045; The Bulldogs battled and had a threat in the sixth inning trailing by two runs, but that’s when Franklin County brought in its stopper.

Things stopped all right. With runners on first and second and no outs, the first three batters he faced went down swinging to end the threat.

Franklin County scored one in the first, two in the second and one in the third off Natchez High starter Eric Woods. Jeremiah Green came in for the last four innings and closed the door.

&uot;Eric did a good job, but he had a little control problem,&uot; NHS head coach Charlie Williams said. &uot;After Jeremiah came in, he kind of closed the door.&uot;

Natchez (1-3) cut the lead to 3-1 in the third when Green walked, stole second and third and scored on a bunt from Aaron Ratliff. The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the fifth on when Jason Hayes’ infield fly was misplayed and the throw to second went into the outfield as Hayes came all the way around to score.