Vicksburg High’s Heath Daigre (29) gets ready to apply the tag to Warren Central’s Cody Ferguson at third base in the seventh inning Tuesday. Ferguson tried to tag up from second base on a shot hit to left-center field, but Vicksburg’s Hampton Calvin gunned Ferguson at third. (Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[3/24/04]It’s the kind of inning every baseball player dreams about, and Vicksburg High’s Hampton Calvin lived it Tuesday night.

The Gator senior centerfielder connected on a go-ahead single in the bottom of the sixth inning, then gunned down a Warren Central runner at third base in the seventh to preserve a 5-4 victory for the Gators in the first of two Division 6-5A showdowns between the crosstown rivals.

“I went up there with the bases loaded and all I told myself was to be cool and confident,” Calvin said of his driving single off of Mark Different that scored Blake Tidwell and pinch-runner Shannon Tillman. “I just watched it out of his hand. My brothers were behind me in the stands, so I knew I had to do it.”

More amazing than the single, though, was Calvin’s throw in the seventh.

John Rice Pettway led off the inning with a single, and Cody Ferguson was inserted to run for Pettway. With no outs, Ferguson advanced on a wild pitch from a tiring James Jackson.

Nick Carson followed with a shot to deep left center. Calvin drifted under the fly, then delivered a strike to third baseman Heath Daigre well ahead of the sliding Ferguson.

“I knew before he hit it that if the ball came to me, he would be tagging up,” Calvin said. “I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

The out prompted both Warren Central coaches to vehemently argue, saying Ferguson was never tagged as he slid into third base. The argument fell on deaf ears, though.

“I’ll never blame a game on umpires, never have, never will,” Warren Central coach Randy Broome said. “But for that call to be made, (the umpire) definitely had to be in better position.”

With two outs, Jackson caught Allen Carlisle looking on a curve ball to end the game, and give the Gators a one-game lead in the race for the division championship. The two teams meet again at WC on April 6.

Jackson scattered four hits and struck out 10, but he did hit three batters. John Hendrix was warm in the bullpen in the late innings, but VHS coach Jamie Creel stuck with his top pitcher, who had not pitched in nearly two weeks because of a spasm in his shoulder.

“There is no way he would have let me take him out of the game,” Creel said. “The relationship we have, I could have done it, but he would not have been pleased.”

The Gators, who trailed the entire game, came alive in the bottom of the sixth off losing pitcher Different.

Jackson, Tidwell and Sean McGowan hit three-straight singles to score one run, and leave men on first and second with one out. Pinch-hitter Fred Denton moved Tidwell and McGowan into scoring position to set up Calvin’s single.

Different left after Calvin’s hit. He threw 5 2/3 innings, allowed nine hits and five runs.

“Mark’s always shown the heart and guts to get out of jams,” Broome said. “He’s been getting out of jams all year long, and his pitch count was down. You want your bulldog on the mound.”

Jackson paced the Gators’ 9-hit attack with three singles. Calvin hit two singles and Sean McGowan added a single and a double.

But it was the Vikings who had the advantage most of the game.

WC scored one in the third and added three in the top of the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. Josh Gordon and Vaughn Mims were hit by pitches to start the fourth, and Jake Turner walked to load the bases.

Gordon scored on a Zach Balthrop groundout, and Pettway belted a two-RBI single to score two more runs for a 4-0 WC lead.

Pettway led WC with two hits and Carlisle had an RBI single.

A hit batter, and error and a fielder’s choice led to two Gator runs in the fourth inning to trim the deficit in half.