VIDALIA — Vidalia started off sluggish, but used an eight-run fourth inning to come back and defeat the No. 8 Marksville Tigers 9-7.

“Our guys played tough tonight and I’m very proud of the way they played as a team,” Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said.

With the win, Vidalia improves to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in district 3-3A, which ties them for first place in the district. Every team in the district has a 1-1 record.

Vidalia trailed the Tigers 7-0 after the third inning and knew they had a tough hill to climb.

Trey Barnes hit a single to left field to start off the fourth inning.

Trey Brasher, Hunter Martin, Cameron Boyette, Beau Doughty, Mason Ozburn, Jake DeWeese and Barnes all hit RBI singles in the inning to take a one-run lead over Marksville.

The Vikings scored another run in the sixth inning thanks to another RBI single by Brasher that scored Ozburn.

The Viking defense backed up a good pitching performance by Ozburn and shut down the Tiger offense for the rest of the game to take the victory.

Ozburn earned the win for the Vikings with nine strikeouts in five innings while Thomas Dunn was handed the loss for the Tigers.

“I am very proud of how Mason Ozburn came in and pitched for us,” Hoffpauir said.

Barnes had a perfect 3-for-3 night for the Vikings with three singles and an RBI while Brasher also went 3-for-4 with three singles and three RBIs.

Ozburn and Martin batted 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI each for Vidalia.

James Chelette batted 2-for-3 with two singles and two RBIs for Marksville.

“This game will go down as one of the best in my book,” Hoffpauir said. “We are always known for battling back and tonight was a great example of that.”

Vidalia travels to Buckeye next Tuesday for a district matchup.