VHS rips Riverside, pounds Provine
Published 12:00 am Monday, March 19, 2001
Josh McBride of Vicksburg High slides into third on a wild pitch as Riverside’s Jamie Lester jumps to catch the throw. The Gators won, 14-4, then pounded Provine, 11-1. (The Vicksburg Post/ROB MAXWELL)
[03/19/01] All it took to get Vicksburg High’s bats going Friday afternoon against Riverside were a few words of “encouragement” from coach Jamie Creel.
“He threatened us to run some foul poles after the game,” said VHS catcher Ryan Grey, who went 2-for-3 with two doubles, including a clutch two-out RBI double in the fifth inning that triggered an eight-run outburst and sent the Gators (9-3) to a 14-4 win.
All but one VHS starter had a hit, as the Gators pounded out 12 hits, seven for extra bases. Justin Henry went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, Paul Gorney had two RBIs, J.J. Brown was 2-for-2 with a double, triple, two RBIs and three runs scored, and John Rohrer was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles.
“That was the thing I was most proud of. We had a couple of hustle doubles, and that’s been contagious for us lately,” Creel said. “You’re going to run into some outs, but that’s OK. It really opened up some big innings for us today … I think momentum and hustle brought us to swinging the bats like that.”
Mitchell Beauman drove in two runs and allowed only four hits and no earned runs while striking out eight to get the win.
“Mitchell threw a great game. If the defense would’ve worked behind him, he probably would have had a shutout,” Grey said.
Greg Davis was 2-for-3 with a triple and Josh Jones had an RBI single for Riverside (4-5).
VHS was clinging to a 6-4 lead with two outs in the bottom of the fourth when the tide turned in its favor.
Brown was hit by a pitch and went to third on a wild pitch. Beauman followed with a walk and Grey drove in courtesy runner Romell Barnes with his double to make it 7-4. The hit started a string of four straight run-scoring hits that included an RBI double by Gorney and was capped by Rohrer’s second RBI single of the game, which scored Chris Middleton and made it 11-4.
The hit parade continued in the fifth as the Gators scored three runs on an error and four straight hits to end the game by the 10-run mercy rule.
“It was a time when we needed to hit, and I just came through for us,” Grey said of his hit. “That’s my job as the number-four hitter, and it’s about time we came around.”
Creel said that was the essence of his threat not to scare his players, but to get them to put some pressure on themselves.
“I hate making threats. All I’m saying is you’ve got to put pressure on yourself to do your job,” Creel said. “There’s a lot of pressure out here, just like there’s a lot of pressure in everyday life, and if you can’t handle the pressure you put on yourself, then you don’t belong out here.”
VHS jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first despite getting only two hits. Three passed balls, two stolen bases, a wild pitch and an error helped the inning along.
“We just didn’t make the routine plays. We misplayed some fly balls that my guys make the plays on 90 percent of the time,” Riverside coach Bobby Sheppeard said.
The Gators returned the favor later on, however. Two errors in the top of the second helped Riverside cut it to 4-2.
Brown hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the inning and then scored on a passed ball to make it 6-2, but three more Gator errors in the top of the fourth led to two more Riverside runs and cut it to 6-4.
VHS 11, Provine 1
Another late power surge this time from some of the Gators’ little-used bench players broke open a tight game against Provine (2-5).
James Farrish had a two-run single, Sean Tedder and John Fitzgerald each had key hits, and John Reynolds had two hits, including a game-clinching RBI single, as part of a seven-run sixth inning that ended the game by the mercy rule.
Cory Hudson went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and two RBIs, and Chris Middleton struck out nine and allowed five hits to get the win.
“We just got big lifts out of the kids that don’t hardly get to play,” Creel said. “That’s special. That’s what it’s all about right there.”