CROWVILLE, La. &045; Vidalia’s baseball clubs have been so dominated in the past that district play has almost been used as an exhibition season before the postseason arrives.

However, with an exodus of key seniors from last year’s Class 2A runner-up squad, there were probably those in District 4-2A that thought, they may be able to steal one from the Mighty Vikings.

Survey says? Not yet.

Vidalia senior ace Mac Ware mowed down 10 Crowville batters and walked none, as the Vikings opened the district season with a blue-collar 3-2 victory.

&uot;That’s what we’ve been looking for in Mac,&uot; VHS head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said. &uot;The last couple of games he’s been off, hasn’t been quite himself. But I think tonight is gonna be a confidence builder for him.&uot;

It was truly a pitcher’s duel between the two rivals. Both Ware and Crowville ace David Phillips had control of some very wicked stuff.

Each team’s offense only mustered five hits, and Phillips kept close attention to the plate with three walks all night.

&uot;We knew we were going to face their No. 1 pitcher (Phillips) today,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;I knew it was going to be a close game. We had some chances to break it lose, but we weren’t able to get the big hit.&uot;

Vidalia took a 3-0 lead during the middle innings thanks to its usage of small ball.

Ware led off the top of the fourth with a walk and moved to third after both Chris Williams and Brett Hinson singled. Ware came home with the game’s first run when Reid Simpson sacrificed him in with a fly ball.

In the fifth Williams drew a bases-loaded walk to score Trey Keith and Hinson collected an RBI with another sacrifice fly to score Chris Ensminger.