T.J. Smith of Porters Chapel Academy is safe at second with a steal as Justin Stokes of the Vicksburg Juniors covers the bag. PCA won both games of a doubleheader, 8-2 and 7-3. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[06/12/01] Overconfidence hurt the Vicksburg Juniors in the first game of their doubleheader with Porters Chapel on Monday. A breakdown in fundamentals cost them in the second game.

PCA jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first and went on to win the opener, 8-2, then took advantage of four walks and five wild pitches in the first inning of game two to complete the sweep, 7-3.

“We didn’t have our heads anywhere close to a game today,” Vicksburg coach Daniel Butler said after game one. “We had it our in our heads saying, We’re playing Porters Chapel, we’re Vicksburg, we’re going to win,’ and that’s what cost us the game.”

Porters Chapel came out swinging in game one, taking the early lead on three hits, a walk and a Vicksburg error. Humphrey Barlow’s two-run, bases-loaded double gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

“I think that got us going,” said Barlow, who went 2-for-3 in the opener.

Aaron Curry added an RBI fielder’s choice to cap the inning, and the Eagles rode the pitching of Ryan Hoben the rest of the way.

Hoben didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and took a shutout into the seventh, when Vicksburg got a pair of unearned runs. He walked four batters and hit one, but scattered only four hits and finished with six strikeouts. Hoben also had an RBI single to tack on an insurance run as part of a three-run fifth inning.

“Hoben dominated on the mound. He got the job done and I think he was the difference in the ballgame,” Porters Chapel coach Randy Wright said.

Andrew Embry also went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for Porters Chapel, Wes Massey had an RBI double and Michael Shinn went 2-for-3 with two singles and two runs scored.

Matt Middleton had an RBI single and walked twice for Vicksburg, and Nathan Baylot went 2-for-3 with a double.

PCA 7, Vicksburg 3

The Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on four walks, an error, five wild pitches and an RBI single by Hoben.

A mixup on an RBI groundout by Barlow no one covered third base, allowing Josh Rush to move from first to third on a ball that traveled about 10 feet also set up a run.

“They’re a young team, we’re a young team. They’re going to learn from their mistakes and we’re going to learn from our mistakes, and that’s why we play these games,” said Embry, who walked twice, scored two runs and was also the winning pitcher.

Vicksburg cut it to 4-1 in the second on three straight singles, including an RBI base hit by Justin Stokes, but Porters Chapel answered in the bottom of the inning with a run set up by a wild pitch and a passed ball, and driven in with a groundout by Rush.

The Gators closed in again in the sixth, cutting it to 5-2 on Chip Lofton’s RBI single, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Eagles put the game away with the help of three Vicksburg errors and a two-run single by Massey in the bottom of the sixth, making it 7-2.

Vicksburg catcher Rob Quimby drove in a run with a two-out single in the top of the seventh, scoring Drew Smith, but Porters Chapel reliever Joseph Ivey got Lofton to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.