VINTON, La. — The Vidalia High School Vikings scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a 9-6 win over the Vinton High School Lions Friday to take a 1-0 series lead in the regional round of the 2018 LHSAA Class 2A Baseball State Playoffs.

“They played playoff baseball and kept their heads in it. Having those come-from-behind wins (during the regular season) helped out,” Vikings head coach Mike Norris said.

Vidalia got off to a good start on the road, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning and one run each in the top of the second and third innings to take a 4-1 lead against Vinton starting pitcher Blaine Manucy.

But Manucy settled down and didn’t allow a single run over his next two and one-thirds innings on the mound. He gave up four runs (none earned) on six hits and one walk to go with four strikeouts and one hit batter over five and a third innings.

“We put the ball in play and they made a couple of errors. That spurred us on a bit,” Norris said about his team’s quick start.

However, the Lions responded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead.

“They got a couple of hits. We threw it away a couple of times and that allowed them to score a few runs,” Norris said.

Then the Vikings answered with their rally in the top of the seventh inning to take a 9-5 lead.

“Just as he has all season, Tony Tolliver got on base in the seventh and we ended up scoring. We had a couple of players put the bat on ball. It rattled them a little bit,” Norris said.

Not even what happened in the bottom of the fifth would rattle Vikings starting pitcher Tristan Weatherly. He went the distance and allowed three earned runs on five hits, four walks and one hit batter to go with seven strikeouts.

“He came out that last inning and had that look in his eye and he closed it out,” Norris said.

Zack Courville was charged with the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on just one hit but also three walks with one strikeout.

Game 2 of this best-of-three series is today at 10 a.m., and Vidalia will be the ‘home’ team in that game even though the game is at Vinton. If there is a Game 3, it will follow at 12:30 p.m.

Merryville 16, Block 11

JONESVILLE — The sixth-seeded Block High School Bears were upset by the 11th-seeded Marryville High School Panthers in a high-scoring game 16-11 Friday afternoon in the regional round of the 2018 LHSAA Class 1A Baseball State Playoffs.

Jacob Spinks was charged with the loss for Block. Both teams had their share of defensive miscues with Merryville (11-16) committing three errors and Block making four errors.

Block finished its season with an overall record of 15-13.

Delta Charter 6, Jonesboro-Hodge 5 (Thurs.; 9 innings)

JONESBORO, La. — The Delta Charter School Storm held on for a 6-5 win over the Jonesboro-Hodge High School Tigers Thursday afternoon in the regional round of the 2018 LHSAA Class 1A Baseball State Playoffs.

Drake Smith was the winning pitcher and Freddie Mango had two base hits for the Storm.

Delta Charter (11-13) will take on the winner of Monday afternoon’s regional-round game between No. 16 seed Montgomery High School and No. 1 seed LaSalle High School later next week at a day and time to be determined.