Vicksburg Mudcats’ Darius Taylor’s eyes light up as a pitch comes during the 8-year-olds’ Cal Ripken State Tournament Sunday at Halls Ferry Park.(C. Todd ShermanThe Vicksburg Post)

[7/7/03]The Vicksburg Mudcats are one of only three teams remaining in the 8-year-olds’ Cal Ripken State Tournament.

After defeating the Clinton Heat on Saturday, the Mudcats began a long Sunday with an 11-4 victory over Bayou View sparked by a six-run outburst in the third inning.

In the next round, two huge innings provided most of the runs in a game between the Mudcats and the Clinton Arrows.

The Arrows came out ahead with the biggest, and last, offensive outburst in the game to claim a 12-8 victory as they pounded out six runs in the top of the inning with a combination of hitting and poor fielding by Vicksburg.

“We weren’t doing the routine things,” Vicksburg coach Marshall Upton said. “We had several chances to put them away.”

The Mudcats did their best to get back in the game in the bottom of the sixth, but could only make up a run on an RBI single by Gabe Bufkin.

The loss sent the Mudcats into the losers bracket where they faced Jeff Davis County. Jeff Davis had defeated the Vicksburg Tigers earlier in the day when Tyler Flowers hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to win, 11-10.

The Mudcats opened up strong with six runs in the first inning and four in the second, but they allowed Jeff Davis to climb back in the game and tie it at 10 apiece.

Vicksburg scored one in the fourth and the fifth to take a 12-10 lead, but Jeff Davis bounced back again with two in the top of the sixth.

With the bases loaded in the bottom half, the Mudcats’ Darius Taylor slammed a shot over the right fielder’s head to send in Richard Bufkin for the winning run.

Taylor, Andrew Rollins, Jonah Masterson, Matthew Bell and Reed Evans each had two hits for the Mudcats.

Next up for the Mudcats was North Jackson American, which lost to North Jackson National, 8-2, earlier in the day. North Jackson American then defeated Long Beach, 11-7, in the losers’ bracket.

Reed Evans hit two doubles and a triple with four RBIs to lead the Mudcats past North Jackson American, 11-4.

Cameron Upton also added three hits, and Matthew Jones and Hunter Martin each had two hits.

In the winners’ bracket, North Jackson National then lost to the Clinton Arrows, 4-1. Clinton led 1-0 heading into the sixth inning and added three more runs to assure the win.

North Jackson National falls to the losers’ bracket and faces the Mudcats at 5 p.m. today. The winner will have to defeat the Arrows twice to win the championship.

In the 9-year-olds’ tournament, Orange Grove remains the team to beat as it crushed Meridian 14-4 in the winners’ bracket late Sunday afternoon

The Bombers led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the fourth, and then scored nine runs to end the game by mercy rule.

Wyatt Peterson and Diggs Spence each had three hits to lead Orange Grove, and Stephen Stiglets pitched into the fourth inning for the win.

Earlier in the day, Orange Grove survived North Jackson with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Peterson singled with two outs and stole second base. Cameron Lasso then hit a double to send Peterson in for the win.

Erik Johnson helped Orange Grove stay alive when he came in to pitch with runners on first and second in the top of the seventh. Johnson shut down North Jackson and picked up the win.

In the losers’ bracket, North Jackson then lit up the scoreboard to defeat Central Mississippi 23-8.

Ryan Buchanan hit a double and four singles, and Will Puckett had a double and three singles for North Jackson.

Puckett also pitched three innings to pick up the win and set up a game against Clinton today at 5 p.m.

The winner of that game will face Meridian at 7 p.m., with the championship game set for 9 p.m.

Van Jensen contributed to this report.