Kinder, LA. — For the second week in a row, the Vidalia High School Vikings traveled to southwest Louisiana to play a best-of-three series in the LHSAA Class 2A Baseball State Playoffs.

But unlike last week, when Vidalia stunned No. 8 seed Vinton High School 9-6 in Game 1 of that series en route to winning that regional round series, the No. 9 seed Vikings could not pull that same feet in the first game of their quarterfinal series with No. 1 seed Kinder High School.

Elijah Lavan allowed just one run on three hits and struck out four batters, Michael Fontenot hit two home runs, and the Yellow Jackets swarmed the Vikings 11-1 in five innings Friday afternoon to take a 1-0 series lead.

Tristan Weatherly got the start on the mound for Vidalia and Kinder jumped on him early and often. The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, four runs in the bottom of the second, and two runs in the bottom of the third for an 8-0 lead.

Weatherly allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on eight hits and four walks with no strikeouts in three-plus innings.

The Vikings avoided by shut out by Lavan by scoring their only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Weatherly had a double while Dominik Harveston and Tony Tolliver each had a single.

Nick Melton came on in relief for Weatherly and allowed one run on two hits and one walk in one inning.

Kinder ended up run-ruling Vidalia with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Yellow Jackets were not only effective on the mound and at the plate, but also in the field as they committed no errors.

Fontenot led Kinder at the plate, going 3-for-3 with five runs batted in and three runs scored. Hayes Fawcett was 2-for-2 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored while Bailey Cottongin was 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Vidalia (23-12) will be the ‘home’ team for Game 2 of the series against Kinder (29-8), which takes place today at 12 p.m. If the Vikings win that game, Game 3 will start at 3 p.m.