[04/09/01] Horn Lake coach Mike McCoy couldn’t catch a break from his old college buddy Sam Temple Saturday at Viking Field.

Temple’s Warren Central squad won 10-3 over the Eagles, who have played a brutal schedule and were without four starters who had to stay behind to take the ACT.

“It could have been a lot different if they would have been here,” said McCoy, who was a fraternity brother of Temple’s at Delta State. “But they hit the ball real well. I heard that they just killed the ball.”

Tom Corbin led the way from the No. 9 spot. He went 2-for-3 with a three-run double in the fifth as the Vikings pulled away. Taylor Tankersley went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Brian Pettway, Joey Lieberman and Tyler DeRossette also drove in runs.

Winning pitcher Carl Upton (5-0) went 2-for-3 with an RBI. He stuck out five, walked none and allowed six hits in six innings before Pettway came in and retired the Eagles in order in the seventh to end it.

“Tom Corbin did a good job against a really good left-handed pitcher,” Temple said. “I’m proud we had 12 hits. We’ve talked about taking lefties up the middle and that’s what we did. That’s a good sign for our right-handed sticks.”

Freshman Brett Jenne (5-3) took the loss. He struck out six and walked seven.

Horn Lake took advantage of a wild pitch and an error to take a quick 1-0 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, after Tankersley doubled and Pettway and Lieberman followed with back-to-back RBI singles up the middle, the Vikings led for good.

The Eagles tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a balk and an RBI single by Cotton Blythe to pull within 4-3.

But WC blew it open in the fifth when Corbin lofted a two-out, bases-clearing double to right-center to highlight the five-run outburst. Corbin scored the 10th run on a throw-down after Kevin Coker drew a walk, then ran to second.

The Eagles (13-14) are in the same division with defending state champion Southaven and have played powerhouse Tupelo twice and several high-powered Memphis-area schools.

“It’s the toughest schedule I can remember playing,” said McCoy, whose team followed with a 6-1 loss to Madison Central. The teams will match up again in the first round of the playoffs.

VHS 4, Brookhaven 2

Mitchell Beauman struck out 10 as he tossed a three-hitter against the No. 15 team in the state. John Rohrer led off the seventh with a triple and Corey Hudson drove him in with a double. J.J. Brown added a sacrifice fly as the Gators (19-6) broke the tie. Gorney also had a double.

Beauman (5-1) walked just three in the complete-game win. Rohrer had two of VHS’ six hits.

NW Rankin 4, VHS 3

The Cougars (19-5) came up with the winning run in the eighth inning after the Gators thought they had won it in the seventh. Brown was called out on a bang-bang play at the plate for the final out of the seventh

“He slid under the tag,” VHS assistant Jackie Williamson said.

Justin Henry stole home in the first inning and Chris Middleton (3-1) kept the home-standing Cougars off the board until the fifth, when they went up 2-1. The Gators answered with two runs in the sixth but couldn’t score again.

Henry had two hits while Beauman and Gorney doubled for the Gators, when had eight hits but committed three errors.

Middleton struck out six, walked one and allowed just four hits as he went the distance.