VIDALIA — It was Vidalia High School’s season in a nutshell, according baseball coach Tim Herndon.

Herndon said sloppy play in the field and lack of situational hitting contributed once again to the Vikings’ loss, this time to Avoyelles High School 9-6 Thursday night.

“This game was sort of a microcosm of our whole season,” Herndon said. “We make mistakes at the wrong time, and it seams like teams immediately capitalize.

“Our guys are battlers, they fought back. But we can’t seem to get over the hump and get the big hit, and we’re not playing great defense.”

Tied 3-3 going into the top of the fourth, Avoyelles’ Luke Hess smacked a bases-loaded double off Vikings starter Corey Williams to score two runs. A single by Austin Lemoine drove in Robert Thames, making it 6-3 Avoyelles.

Avoyelles added two more runs in the top of the fifth. Travis Strong got caught in a rundown between third and home, but another Avoyelles runner was caught between second and third. The Vikings chose to try and get the second runner out, allowing Strong to score.

An RBI single by Ryan Gremillion drove in starting pitcher Caleb Dubroe to make it 8-3 Avoyelles.

The Vikings started to fight back in the bottom half of the fifth, but a controversial call cut the Vidalia rally short.

A double by Devin Barnes brought home Nathan Bozeman, making it 8-4 Vidalia. In the next at-bat, Heath White hit the ball to Gremillion at second. Gremillion tried to turn a double play, but it appeared White was safe at first, which would have scored Jamal Davis and Barnes for Vidalia.

However, the umpire ruled that the Vidalia runner heading to second base interfered with the throw, declaring it to be a double play an ending the inning with Vidalia still trailing 8-4.

“He said our guy had his hands out,” Herndon said. “They said that interfered with the second baseman’s throw, because it made our guy a wider target.

“I didn’t see it, so I wasn’t too mad at first, but after talking to some of the other coaches and realizing it would have been 8-6 if he were safe, I got upset. It was a bad call, and it was a real deflator.”

Vidalia added another run in the bottom of the sixth when Nate Thomas came in on a fielder’s choice by Caleb Vines.

Lemoine hit a double in the top of the seventh that scored a run for Avoyelles, making it 9-5. White scored for Vidalia on an error by third baseman Zack Bowman in the bottom of the seventh.

Dubroe got the win for Avoyelles, while Vikings starter Corey Williams took the loss.

Vidalia fell to 5-15 on the season, 3-6 in district play.