Orange Grove’s success in one-run games continued Sunday at the Cal Ripken 11-year-olds’ state tournament.

James Land’s two-out single in the bottom of the sixth delivered Orange Grove a 3-2 win over the Mississippi Mudcats. It was the Rage’s third straight win by one-run in the tournament.

It also moved them into today’s final at 6 p.m. against the winner between the Mudcats and Philadelphia, which eliminated Stone 14-7 Sunday night. The Mudcats play Philadelphia at 4 p.m. today.

&#8220These guys are playing with unbelievable heart,” Orange Grove coach Greg Wyrosdick said. &#8220We talk all the time about playing from the first out to the last. Pitching and defense has kept us in every game. It carried us today.”

Coming into Sunday, the Mudcats had scored at least 11 runs in rolling up three straight wins in the tournament. Another one Sunday would’ve locked up a berth in the Southwest Regionals in Denham Springs, La., because the top two teams from this tournament will advance.

&#8220I told our kids had we won, I would’ve been on the phone Monday making reservations,” Mudcat coach Marshall Upton said. &#8220We played a good game and we gave good effort.

&#8220We just didn’t come in here with the right attitude of believing in ourselves and being aggressive at the plate.”

The Mudcats were held to just two runs on seven hits by the pitching combination of righty Justin Barna and southpaw Jared Simon. The Rage also played errorless ball in the field compared to three errors by the Mudcats.

The Vicksburg team was fortunate to get the game to the bottom of the sixth. Trailing 2-1, the Mudcats were down to their last strike when Andrew Collins popped into short center field to score pinch-runner Matthew Boggan to tie the game at 2-2. Collins tried to stretch the hit into a double and was out at second base.

Orange Grove came back in its half of the sixth with Simon getting on by an infield hit. A two-out error moved Simon to third, bringing up Land. He took a 2-0 pitch off Cam Upton into right field for a game-winning single.

Philly 14, Stone County 7.

Philadelphia built a 10-2 lead after two complete innings and went on to eliminate Stone County.

J.C. Bates went 3-for-4 and scored three runs to lead Philly. Drew Coats had a home run to key a four-run first. K.J. Moore went four innings to grab the win.

Stone 7, Florence 6.

Stone stayed alive by taking a 7-1 lead behind Kyle Morrison’s four innings pitched.

Philly 4, East Central 1.

J.C. Bates went 2-for-3 and scored two of Philly’s four runs. Bates then came on in relief and retired the final six East Central batters for the save. Johntrell Powell went the first four, fanning four. Dillon Ladner had an RBI double for East Central’s only run.

10-year-olds.

Vancleave 6, Mudcats 3.

The Vicksburg Mudcats held a 3-1 lead going into the last inning, but allowed Vancleave to score five runs in an elimination game.

On Saturday night against East Central, the Mudcats held a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning before allowing six runs and falling into the losers’ bracket.

Steven Busma had a double and a triple to lead the Mudcats, while Jonah Masterson doubled.

In other 10-year-olds’ games, Meridian defeated Bay St. Louis, 14-6, and East Central defeated Philadelphia, 3-1.

8-year-olds.

Vicksburg 11, Central Miss. 4.

The Vicksburg Venom remained unbeaten in the Cal Ripken 8-year-olds’ state tournament in Jackson with a big win over Central Mississippi, a team from Morton.

The Venom strung together eight straight singles in the first inning to take a 5-2 lead. The Venom allowed single runs in the second and fifth innings.

Dale Griffith went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Venom, while Tyler Smith went went 2-for-3 with a home run and a single and John Austin Burris and Lee Simpson both went 3-for-3 at the plate. Landon Little went 2-for-2 in the win.

The Venom will play in the championship game today at 6.