Prep roundup: Vikings win regular season finale, Centreville wins district title

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 21, 2018

Twenty four hours after a pair of nail-biting one-run wins over Beekman Charter School to claim the LHSAA District 2-2A championship, Vidalia High School baseball coach Mike Norris had to wonder what kind of mindset the Vikings would have heading into their district and regular-season finale against Mangham High School.

Mangham jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but after staying within striking distance through the fourth and fifth innings, Vidalia’s bats finally woke up and the Vikings used a nine-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to take their first lead of the game as they held on for a wild 15-11 victory over the Dragons Tuesday afternoon.

The contest lasted close to three hours and 45 minutes with both teams using several pitchers.

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Vidalia was out-hit by Mangham 16-to-seven in the game — one of the few games the Vikings had that happen to them. But three errors and several walks by the Dragons’ pitching staff aided in Vidalia’s amazing comeback win.

Both teams scored three runs in the fourth inning and two runs in the fifth inning before the Vikings rallied in a big way in the bottom of the sixth. The Dragons scored two runs in the top of the seventh, but it was not enough.

Nick Melton went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and two runs scored, while Christian Fort was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

Tristan Weatherly was the winning pitcher, allowing four runs on seven hits and one walk to go with three strikeouts over two and one-third innings.

Losing pitcher Braxton Williams had a better game at the plate than he did on the mound. He allowed four runs on just two hits but also five walks with four strikeouts in three and two-thirds innings. He went 4-for-5 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Vidalia (20-10, 11-1) next plays in the Bi-District Round of the 2018 LHSAA Class 2A State Playoffs. The brackets will be revealed Sunday afternoon.

Centreville Academy 14, Ben’s Ford 0 (Game 1; 4 innings)

Centreville Academy 15, Ben’s Ford 0 (Game 2; 3 innings)

CENTREVILLE — Jace DeLee and Tyler Thomassie each pitched no-hitters as MAIS District 4-AA champion Centreville Academy took care of Ben’s Ford Christian School in a varsity doubleheader Friday afternoon.

In the first game, DeLee struck out seven batters and walked two in four innings as the Tigers defeated the Eagles, 14-0.

Centreville scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning, one run in the bottom of the second and nine runs in the bottom of the third. Wyatt Brabham went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple while Matthew Bihm was 2-for-2 with a double.

Ben’s Ford kept Centreville off the scoreboard in the first inning of the second game, but the Tigers took over in the second inning and rolled to a 15-0 victory in three innings.

Thomassie went all three innings. He didn’t walk any batters, but he didn’t strike out any batters either. But he was aided by a defense that committed just one error.

The Tigers finished with 14 hits with six different batters collecting two hits — Bihm, Brabham, DeLee, Bradie Garrett, Derrick Knight and Ashby Schwartz. DeLee had a triple while Bihm, Brabham, Knight and Schwartz each had a double.

Centreville Academy (19-8, 11-1) has a first-round by in the MAIS Class AA South State Playoffs and doesn’t play again until the week of April 30 against the winner of the first-round series between District 3-AA No. 2 seed Newton Academy and District 5-AA No. 2 seed River Oaks School.

St. Andrews Episcopal 17, Jefferson County 1 (Game 1; 3 innings)

St. Andrews Episcopal 11, Jefferson County 1 (Game 2; 5 innings)

RIDGELAND — The Jefferson County High School Tigers were swept and eliminated in the first round of the 2018 MHSAA Class 3A South State Playoffs by the St. Andrews Episcopal Saints Friday afternoon.

Region 6-3A champion and No. 1 seed St. Andrews Episcopal needed just three innings to defeat Region 7-3A No. 4 seed Jefferson County 17-1 in the first game.

The Saints scored 12 runs in the bottom of the first inning and add five more in the bottom of the second. The Tigers scored their lone run in the top of the third inning.

St. Andrews Episcopal finished with 17 hits while Jefferson County managed just two hits.

The second game went five innings with the Saints beating the Tigers 11-1 to advance to the second round against the winner of the series between Region 5-3A No. 3 seed Choctaw Central High School and Region 8-3A No. 2 seed Columbia High School.

St. Andrews Episcopal scored at least one run in all five innings. The Saints led 3-0 after two innings of play before Jefferson County scored one run in the top of the third inning to cut the deficit to just two runs.

However, the Saints scored a combined eight runs over the final three innings to end the game early.

Jefferson County finished with season with an overall record of 0-8.

Brookhaven Academy 10, ACCS 4

SUMMIT — Two days after being eliminated from playoff contention by Central Private School, the Adams County Christian School were looking to end their season on a positive note with a win over a good Brookhaven Academy team.

Instead, ACCS’s bats went cold and the Rebels committed five errors as the lost to the Cougars 10-4 Friday afternoon on the campus of Southwest Mississippi Community College.

Levi Smith got the win for Brookhaven Academy after holding ACCS to one earned run on two hits and one walk to go with three strikeouts over five solid innings.

Even though the Cougars gave him very little run support and trailed 2-1 after five innings, they struck for five runs in the top of the sixth inning for a 6-2 lead.

After the Rebels scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 6-4 game, the Cougars responded with four runs in the top of the seventh to put the game away.

Andrew Porter was charged with the loss after giving up six runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

O’Neill Burgos had a big game at the plate for Brookhaven Academy, going 2-for-5 with a double, a triple and four runs batted in.

Josh Day had almost all of ACCS’s base hits, going 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored.

ACCS finished the season with an overall record of 15-13.