There’s an old baseball adage that two-out hits win ballgames. For Vicksburg High, five of them did the trick on Friday night.

The Gators strung together five straight two-out hits in the bottom of the third inning, keying a seven-run rally that propelled them to a 10-3 rout of Warren Central at Bazinsky Field.

Vicksburg’s Tanner Woodson went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, including a run-scoring double in the big third inning. Eric Coleman was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, Stanton Price went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Tyler Wells was 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a double.

It was Vicksburg’s second lopsided win over the Vikings in three days. The Gators won Tuesday’s meeting at Viking Field, 21-6.

&#8220I was a little worried about how we would come out, and we came out a little flat,” Vicksburg coach Jamie Creel said. &#8220I tried to push the issue and be aggressive, and the boys responded.”

Sean Elliott doubled and scored two runs, and Chris Whittington had an RBI triple for Warren Central, which was all but eliminated from playoff contention. The Vikings (4-13, 2-4 Division 3-5A) have lost all of their division games against frontrunners Madison Central and Vicksburg, and would lose the tiebreaker to them.

Vicksburg, meanwhile, put itself in a good position to earn a playoff spot. The Gators (10-7, 3-2) must win two of their last four division games to clinch, and play two of those against woeful Greenville-Weston.

&#8220It’s definitely a relief. That’s all we were talking about, was we had to win tonight so it doesn’t come down to the next time we play (WC) being for a playoff spot,” Woodson said.

Elliott walked and eventually scored a run on a throwing error to put WC ahead 2-1 in the top of the third, but the bottom fell out in the bottom of the inning.

Wells led off with a long home run to straightaway center to tie it, then Coleman reached on an error and scored on Kurt Cooksey’s RBI groundout to give the Gators a 3-2 lead.

Cooksey’s grounder to first was the second out of the inning and cleared the bases, but WC starter Jonathan Longmire struggled to finish the inning. The next three batters all singled, including a base hit to left by Judd Mims that brought in two runs.

Back-to-back doubles by Woodson and Delmon Robinson brought in two more runs and made it 8-2 before Wells struck out to end the inning.

Besides the Gators’ hits, the Vikings were hurt by their own mistakes. They committed three errors in the inning, two of them throwing errors as VHS runners tried to take extra bases.

&#8220Once somebody gets something going in a two-out situation, it gets everybody pumped, and that’s what happened,” Woodson said.

The Gators scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to make it 10-2 as pitcher Andrew Brown kept WC in check.

Brown gave up three runs, six hits and two walks in a complete-game win. He allowed runners to reach in every inning, but never let the Vikings string together hits the way the Gators were able to.

&#8220I felt like (WC starter) Jonathan (Longmire) threw well. All we can ask is for our pitchers to throw strikes, and Vicksburg did a good job hitting it where we weren’t,” WC coach Randy Broome said.

Porters Chapel 17-11, ACCS 2-1

The unbeaten Porters Chapel Eagles slugged five home runs in doubleheader sweep of ACCS Friday night in Natchez.

The Eagles (18-0, 3-0 District 4-AA) had four homers in a 17-2 romp and then had one from Cody Ferguson in game two in an 11-1 decision.

Cole Smith and Michael Busby each drove in four runs off three hits in the first game. Busby, Hayden Hales, Matt Cranfield and Brady Towne all had homers. Hales picked up the pitching win.

Smith got the win in the second game. PCA broke free from a 3-1 game by scoring five runs in the fourth inning to go up 8-1. Hales’ two-out, two-run single was the key hit. Moose Carney led PCA in game two with three hits and three RBIs.

Softball

Pearl 9, Warren Central 8

Pearl scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Lady Vikes (4-7) in the Ridgeland Tournament.

The loss spoiled a great game by Kaitlyn Patton. Patton had four hits, including a home run. Tiffany Fuller, Mandy Fuller and Kari Lieberman had two hits each.