Warren Central upsets Clinton

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Just three days after suffering a shocking loss to Greenville-Weston, the Warren Central Vikings came back Monday night with an equally stunning upset of second-ranked Clinton.

The Vikings (8-13, 5-3 Division 4-5A) struck for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally from a 4-3 deficit and beat the Arrows 8-4 at Viking Field.

WC owns the second seed from 4-5A when the Class 5A playoffs begin April 23-25. Clinton fell to 17-4 overall and 8-1 in the division.

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“Couldn’t be more proud of our team. The performance on the mound by John Michael Harris was the best thing that could ever happen for this team,” WC coach Josh Abraham said. “This was the first time we’ve been able to pitch him and he comes up with the big game for us.”

Harris, a junior, was able to battle out of a couple of jams in the first two innings. Clinton struck for a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings to grab a 4-0 lead but the Vikings hung in there.

“I was able to mix my pitches up and we played as a team,” Harris said.

The Vikings started their comeback in the fifth inning, scoring three runs against Clinton starter Andrew Gunn. De Kelley and Adam Lee had RBI hits to close the gap to 4-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Vikings pressured Gunn by loading the bases on an infield hit by Jerrod Ettinger, an error and a walk. Gunn was pulled for his brother, Alex Gunn. D. White, however, drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Ettinger to tie the game at 4.

Kelley followed with a hit into shallow center to score Jimmie Elliott. A fly ball to center by Beau Wallace was enough to score Carlos Gonzalez for a 6-4 lead. Keaton Sanders singled to reload the bases and Lee capped the rally with a two-run single to right to make it 8-4.

Harris hit his first batter in the seventh and Abraham decided that was enough. Jay Harper came in and got three straight ground ball outs to get the save and lock up the win.

Harris scattered his seven hits through six innings. Lee drove in three runs off two hits while Kelley had two RBIs off two hits.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com