[3/30/04]The night was cold and dreary, but it didn’t bother James Jackson’s left arm.

Jackson threw a one-hitter and struck out 11 as Vicksburg hammered Division 6-5A rival Forest Hill 10-0 in five innings on Monday night at Bazinsky Field.

“James threw the ball very well,” VHS coach Jamie Creel said. “This is the first game he’s had his velocity back in a while, and it was good to see.”

Vicksburg (11-6) improved to 4-0 atop Division 6-5A, securing a position in the playoffs with two division games remaining. The Gators can win the division outright with a victory over Warren Central in one week. The Gators notched seven hits, led by Steven Price and Hampton Calvin, who each had two hits and an RBI.

After hitting the first batter of the game, Jackson was brilliant. He allowed the lone hit to lead off the second inning and then recorded 12 straight outs.

“He mixed his pitches up well and hit spots,” Forest Hill assistant coach Johnny Course said. “We helped him out a few times. He didn’t have really good control all the time, but there were some times where we got ahead in the count, and we let him come back on us by swinging at bad pitches, pitches that he wanted us to hit.”

Jackson couldn’t locate his fastball for much of the game, but buckled the knees of the Rebels (9-10) with his breaking ball.

“The curveball worked a lot,” Jackson said. “I was struggling, and the curveball helped me out.”

Shane Burt took the loss. He allowed nine runs in 3 1/3 innings with four walks, three hit batters and three wild pitches.

Vicksburg started off with a pair of runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Gators also had opportunities in the second and third innings but couldn’t convert them into runs.

“It was a ballgame at first when we had it at 2-0,” Course said. “Then we had that bad inning.”

A seven-run fourth inning secured the victory for the Gators. Vicksburg notched five hits and brought 12 batters to the plate in the inning.

“We started off a little sluggish with the bats and picked it up there in that one inning,” Creel said. “We came through with some clutch hitting, which is something we needed to have.”

Forest Hill helped out VHS with two errors in the inning as well as two walks, two hit batsmen and three wild pitches.