MENDENHALL — Kyle Brown pitched well enough to give Centreville Academy a chance to take Game 1 in the first round of the MPSA Class AA South State Playoffs.

But the Tigers’ bats couldn’t get going against Simpson Academy pitcher Steven Capistran and the defense behind Brown committed four errors as they lost to the Cougars 4-0 Tuesday night.

Now Centreville (10-17) will have to defeat Simpson Academy in Game 2 of the best-of-three series on Thursday to keep its season alive and force a third and decisive game back at Simpson Academy on Friday. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

The Cougars jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first inning thanks in large part to three Tigers errors. That was all the run support Capistran would need as he held the Tigers to just four hits in the game – three by Cliff Hurst.

“We came out sluggish,” Centreville head coach Jason Horne said. “We had three errors in the first inning and they got those two runs right off the bat.”

Brown allowed six hits and struck out eight in six innings, but it was all for naught. That’s because the Tigers could not take advantage of the opportunities given to them. Horne said had it not been for all the errors, it could have been a 1-0 game in favor of the Cougars.

“We made those errors behind (Brown) and that shouldn’t have happened. It was a pitchers’ duel. We had runners on base every inning and just stranded them,” Horne said. “Capistran had a good breaking ball and kept us off-balanced.”

And because the game was a good battle between Brown and Capistran, the game only took about an hour and a half to play. Capistran also hit a home run and Fitzgerald had a double for Simpson Academy.

Vidalia 13, Franklin Parish 3

WINNSBORO, La. — The Vidalia Vikings finished off their regular season in style as they pounded out 17 hits in a 13-3 win over the Class 4A Franklin Parish Patriots in five innings Tuesday afternoon.

Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpaiur said his team played well in all three phases against a team from a higher classification in this tune-up game with the Class 3A playoffs starting later this week.

“We were real easy on our pitching staff. We didn’t play our starters but a couple of innings,” Hoffpauir said. “We set the tone with our bats. Can’t complain about that. We played pretty good defense. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the seedings (today).”

Vidalia scored double-digit runs in four of the five innings, including a five-spot in the fifth to close out the game.

Trey Barnes, Tray Brasher, Hunter Martin, Seth Thompson and John Brixey all hit doubles for the Vikings while Brasher was 4-for-4 in the game.

Mason Ozburn was the winning pitcher for Vidalia.

With Vidalia (17-6) and Marksville the co-champions of District 3-3A, there’s no telling where the Vikings will end up being seeded. But considering the level of competition the Vikings faced throughout the season, they should be seeded pretty high.

“It’s been a fun year this year because the kids showed a lot of improvement from day one to now,” Hoffpaiur said. “Right now we’re swinging the bat real well. That’s been our strength this year.”