MONROE, La. — The corner may have finally turned for Josh Abraham’s Warren Central Vikings.

The first-year coach saw his team pick up two wins on Saturday in the Ouachita Parish Tournament, including a 9-6 upset of one of Louisiana’s top teams, Dutchtown.

“Absolutely, this was a defining day for us,” Abraham said. “We may be finally coming around. We’re extremely excited to be able to go home with two wins.”

The Vikings lost both of their games Thursday in Monroe, falling to Neville and Captain Shreve. Saturday, though, was a new day and the Vikings (6-9) started off by beating Ouachita Parish 11-5 behind a big day from Jimmie Elliott.

The left fielder had three hits, including a two-run double during a key fifth-inning rally, and drove in four runs. Dylan Wooten also had a pair of RBIs.

The Vikings carried that momentum into the game with Dutchtown (13-3-2).

Wooten, WC’s pitcher, showed a battling attitude by working out of four different jams. Southern Miss signee Dillon Day was the one causing much of the trouble, with two doubles and a triple.

“He’s definitely a Division I player. I started off kind of slow, but I stayed with it and tried to mix up my speeds,” Wooten said.

Once he got past Day, Wooten was able to control the Griffins, forcing either ground balls or harmless pop-ups. He allowed just one walk, and struck out three.

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the second, the Vikings came back with three runs off three straight hits by Wooten, Elliott and Jason Pettway. Pettway’s hit scored Wooten and then he and Elliott came in after a throwing error.

Day doubled against Wooten in the third to set up two more runs for Dutchtown to make it 4-3. WC tied it again as Adam Lee led off the third with a double and scored on Wooten’s ground out.

In the fourth, De Kelley snapped the tie with a solo home run to left. De White followed by reaching on an error, one of five Dutchtown made in the game. Wooten drew a bases-loaded walk to score White and Keaton Sanders came in on a passed ball to make it 7-4.

WC added two more runs in the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by Sanders to go up 9-5.

 

Barbe 10, VHS 0

The Gators were virtually a no-show for their game against the defending Louisiana Class 5A champions Saturday morning. Vicksburg (8-5) had no hits in the five-inning, Monroe Tournament game played at Ouachita Parish High School.

“We had no effort and it’s been like that the last two games,” Vicksburg coach Jamie Creel said. The Gators lost Friday afternoon to Ruston, snapping an eight-game winning streak. “Today I didn’t start three seniors and as the game went on, I took out the rest. One way or the other, we’ve got to have effort.”

Barbe (12-4-1) stole seven bases in the first inning to score two runs, then added six more runs in the second inning to build an 8-0 lead.

Anthony Cutrera led off the second with a solo home run and Ole Miss signee Tanner Mathis followed with an RBI single to make it 4-0. Two Gator errors helped Barbe score the next four runs to complete the rally.

Jacob Thomas took the loss. He allowed eight runs, four earned, off five hits and five walks.

VHS 6, West Monroe 2

The Gators bounced back with a win over West Monroe, who had beaten Barbe by double digit runs, in a Saturday afternoon game at West Monroe.

Kurt Cooksey had two hits while Bowen Woodson had a double and Blake Hynum a triple. Blake Tarnabine got the win, pitching four scoreless innings.

Vicksburg (9-5) returns to action Tuesday at Bazinsky Field against Pearl.

 

PCA 21, Veritas 3

Colby Rushing went 4-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and four runs scored as Porters Chapel (7-5, 4-1) hammered District 5-A rival Veritas in Jackson.

Joe Borrello doubled twice and drove in three runs, Reed Gordon was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBIs, and Josh Perry hit a two-run, inside-the-park homer for the Eagles, who finished with 17 hits.

Perry drove in another run with a single and finished 2-for-3.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com