When first-year Warren Central coach Josh Abraham addressed his team after Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to powerhouse Northwest Rankin, he wanted to stress one thing.

The positive.

But in the final accounting, it was a five-run deficit after three innings that squelched any chances of a Viking upset.

“We’re trying to take the positive from every game so we can have some momentum going into the playoffs,” Abraham said.

There were positives to be drawn from the contest. Colby Key pitched three innings of solid relief and got the Vikings out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth that could have blown the contest wide open.

“That was a big-time stand by our defense,” Abraham said. “Now that’s the kind of momentum we want to have going into the playoffs.”

Also there was the fourth inning, where the playoff-bound Vikings finally scratched their way back into the contest.

Adam Lee led off the frame with a solid single and Jason Pettway ripped a one-out shot out to the wall, where left fielder Justin Reedy tried to make the grab. He slammed into the fence, the ball popped out of his glove and Pettway stood on third with an RBI.

Keaton Sanders struck the second blow in the inning with a single up the middle to score Pettway. Dee White dropped a single barely into center, but the relay kept the Vikings from adding any more runs.

Northwest starter Brandon Pennington struck out the final Viking he faced in the frame to escape further damage. He finished with seven strikeouts and gave up six hits with one walk.

“I thought my pitcher was the difference in the game,” NW Rankin coach Jeff McClaskey said. “He doesn’t throw all that hard, maybe 79-82 mph, but he throws backwards in a lot of counts. He throws a lot of change-ups and curveballs that he can throw any time, in any count, for strikes.”

After a scoreless, hitless first, WC starter John Michael Harris beaned the first two Cougars he faced in the second. Pennington dropped down a perfect bunt and an errant throw allowed both runners to score. Garrett McBeth polished off the inning with a RBI single to drive in Pennington and give the Cougars a 3-0 lead.

In the Northwest third, Harris yielded a lead-off solo shot to left by Taylor Stark and a double to left-center by Justin Haskins to start off the frame. Shane Anderson drove in Haskins off a one-out RBI double to center, but Harris recovered to induce an easy groundball and a flyout  to end the inning.

The Cougars added an insurance run in the fifth as catcher Mark Slawson plated a run off a single.

Warren Central threatened with two outs in the sixth, as Pettway reached on a dropped third strike and Sanders walked. But Pennington (5-1) induced an easy flyout to end the frame.

He polished off the Viking order in the seventh after yielding a one-out double to Beau Wallace to cap off a seven-strikeout outing.

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com