IOWA, La. — The Vidalia Vikings ended up in a tougher predicament than they should have in the bi-district round of the Class 3A State Playoffs after finishing as co-champions with Marksville in District 3-3A.

Despite winning 17 of its 23 games during the regular season, Vidalia ended up as the No. 17 seed and had to go on the road to face defending Class 3A state champion Iowa, the No. 16 seed despite barely having an overall record just over the .500 mark.

The Vikings got off to a good start by jumping out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Yellow Jackets used a nine-run rally in the bottom of the second inning to go on and take a 17-7 win in six innings and advance to the second round against the winner of the Wossman-Lutcher game next week.

Iowa, which finished second in District 4-3A behind No. 4 seed Jennings, improved to 17-13 with the win. Vidalia finished with a 17-7 record. Tyler Chapman was the winning pitcher for Iowa and Mason Ozburn was the losing pitcher for Vidalia.

After the Yellow Jackets rallied to take the lead, the Vikings never could recover. They trailed 12-5 before scoring their next run in the top of the fifth inning. However, that didn’t keep the home team from adding to its lead. Iowa ended the game in the bottom of the sixth by scoring three runs.

The two teams combined for 21 hits and seven errors. Trey Brasher hit a home run, Hunter Martin had a double, and Beau Dougthy and Seth Thompson each went 2-for-3 to lead Vidalia. Seth Granger had a big game for Iowa at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and a double.