VIDALIA &8212; You could almost hear the groans in the first inning when the Vidalia Vikings had the bases loaded with two outs but had nothing to show for it.

Almost nothing. The groans were there.

&8220;I heard a comment from the dugout &8212; &8216;Not again,&8217;&8221; Vikings head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said.

It couldn&8217;t have been more accurate.

Not only did the Vikings leave the park frustrated in a 5-4 defeat for the second straight night against Class 4A Pineville, but it was another game marked with more runners left on base than anyone could bear to watch. The Vikings left runners on base in every inning but one after doing the same thing Wednesday against Cathedral.

This time, however, the Vikings left 10 on. And the four errors didn&8217;t go over well after committing six the night prior.

&8220;We just made too many errors,&8221; said outfielder Trey Keith, who had two hits and an assist on a double play. &8220;We&8217;ve got to make the routine stuff to do well in the playoffs. We&8217;ve got to hit up and down the lineup. We&8217;ve got to do stuff in pressure situations. It&8217;s killing us.&8221;

For whatever reason, those situations were times when things went south for a club that had its chances to go 2-0 in the last two days. The leadoff batter reached base in the sixth and was left stranded at second.

The Vikings got a run home in the seventh and put Josh Bennett on second and Cameron Ainsworth on first, but Pineville right-hander got a called third strike to end the game.

Hoffpauir&8217;s bunch has one more game before the start of the playoffs. And while the two losses are tough to swallow, the veteran coach is confident the rough streak won&8217;t last long.

&8220;All night long we had baserunners,&8221; Hoffpauir said. &8220;We had a chance to prove we were better than this team, but we didn&8217;t get it done. The biggest difference was we didn&8217;t make the routine defensive plays. A couple of mistakes against a 4A team, and it&8217;ll come back to haunt you.

&8220;There&8217;s not a lot of people who would have thought we would be .500 this year. Some didn&8217;t think we would win five games. We&8217;re 17-6, and I&8217;m proud of the kids. I hate the loss for them because we played well enough to win. We&8217;ll take it into the playoffs and hope we can put a complete game together.&8221;

The frustration may have hit a peak in the seventh after Keith scored a run to trim the deficit to one with two outs. He came around when Ainsworth hit a grounder to third that the Rebels misplayed.

But credit Jenkins for battling through the adversity, something Pineville head coach Darrell Wiley was unhappy to see as well.

&8220;We had a lot of mental problems throughout,&8221; Wiley said. &8220;Our strong point has been our kids have battled no matter what, and they got through it. The effort has always been there. Chandler is our No. 2 starter, and I thought he pitched well. They were sitting back and crushing the fastball.&8221;

The Vikings&8217; troubles in the field allowed Pineville (20-4) to get things started in the fifth while trailing 3-0. Nathan Boone reached on an error, and Zac Aldecoa was hit by a pitch before Bryan Scott sent a Will Thomas pitch over to tie the game at 3-3.

In the sixth, Derek Sandoval was hit by a pitch, went to second on an error and scored when a grounder to third got by Nick Coley before Jordan Brewer scooped it up and touched third base for a forceout.

&8220;They&8217;ve got the bases loaded, and they&8217;re sitting there with their fastest kid at the plate,&8221; Hoffpauir said. &8220;Jordan makes the play and gets the out, but we gave them a run in the meantime that shouldn&8217;t have been.&8221;