Knowing how good and tough a player Josh Abraham was when he played for him, Starkville coach Danny Carlisle felt Thursday night’s Class 5A Madison Central Regional opener at Viking Field would be memorable.

It had enough twists and turns to fill a nove. Carlisle’s Yellow Jackets managed to do enough to send the game into extra innings and then won it in the eighth with three runs for a 10-7 win over Abraham’s Warren Central Vikings.

“When Josh Abraham stepped across that line, he was going to play hard to the end and that team (Warren Central) was a direct image of him,” Carlisle said. “He was a tremendous player for me. He was all business. That’s the way he was tonight. I’m just glad to get out of here with a win. And I still love him like a son.”

Abraham wanted the win, not just to beat his mentor, but for his Vikings, who have struggled all season with their confidence. They had their chances in the bottom of the sixth and seventh, but were denied by the Yellow Jackets.

Still, with how the regional is set up, WC (9-19) has a good chance at revenge tonight. Starkville (19-6) must face a top-seeded and rested Madison Central club (18-4) today at 4 at Madison Central. The Vikings get the loser at 7. If it’s Starkville, the Yellow Jackets could be left with a depleted pitching staff because ace, R.J. Johnson had to pitch an inning, just to get Carlisle’s team to extra innings.

The Vikings may have been victimized by some questionable calls behind the plate, but Abraham offered no alibis.

“Umpires didn’t beat us. This was a see-saw game. It was a great, all-around game,” he said.

The game had 27 combined hits, seven double plays, five lead changes and was tied after the fourth and seventh innings. It was tied at 6 after four and stayed that way until the top of the seventh when Johnson led off with a walk and later scored on a one-out hit to right by Cody Berryhill. Jaquez Johnson tried to score from first but was tagged out at the plate by WC catcher Carlos Gonzalez. Gonzalez then threw back to second to get Berryhill for an inning-ending double play to keep the Vikings’ deficit to one run at  7-6.

Dylan Wooten then doubled off Starkville starter Colin Olsen to start the WC seventh. That was all for Olsen, who went six innings and allowed seven runs off 13 hits. Johnson came in and after a pop-up, walked Beau Wallace and then hit Gonzalez with a pitch.

Johnson came back to strike out De Kelley for two outs, but lost Darrick White on four straight balls to force in the tying run. Keaton Sanders had a chance to win it for the Vikings, but two puzzling strike calls put him in a hole and Johnson got the fan to send the game into extras.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com