Vikings’ swoon continues|Prep baseball
Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 18, 2010
BRANDON — Warren Central missed a chance to put its opponent away Saturday, then a series of mistakes snowballed into a loss.
In other words, it was a poetic ending to a dismal week.
Drake Davis scored the go-ahead run on a single and an outfield error in the bottom of the sixth, and Brandon tacked on two more runs in the inning on its way to a 9-6 victory over Warren Central.
It was the third consecutive loss for the Vikings (12-12). No. 4 came later Saturday against Madison Central, 6-1. The slide has included a pair of division losses to Vicksburg and Clinton that cost WC a chance to clinch the Division 4-6A championship.
WC can still wrap up a playoff berth and the division title by beating Greenville-Weston on Tuesday and Vicksburg on Friday.
“After that Vicksburg loss we started going downhill,” said Vikings center fielder Dee White, who went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs against Brandon. “We just need to settle down, believe in ourselves and have the mentality that when you get off the bus you’re going to win. We had that in the middle of the season and we have to get it back.”
The Vikings showed a scrappy side against Brandon (12-13) that only made the loss more frustrating.
Joseph Veazey hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning, and Nick Gibert hit a two-run blast over the right field wall two batters later to spot the Bulldogs a quick 3-0 lead. WC tied it on a bases-clearing bloop double by White in the top of the second and took a two-run lead in the fourth.
De Kelley led off the fourth with a double, stole third and scored on an errant throw by Veazey. Two infield singles and an error loaded the bases with no outs, but WC only managed to get one more run for a 6-4 lead and left two men on base.
“I have amnesia when that stuff happens,” WC coach Josh Abraham said of his team’s missed chance in the fourth inning. “But that obviously hurt. That was a big chance to blow it up and we didn’t get it done.”
Veazey followed a two-out error with a game-tying, two-run double in the bottom of the fourth. Davis led off the sixth with a single, stole second, then scored when left fielder Colby Key misplayed Patrick Howard’s single. Two wild pitches, a passed ball and an RBI single by Carey Taylor led to two more insurance runs for Brandon.
“Mistakes do kill you, but those mistakes weren’t what beat us,” Abraham said.
WC’s bats, meanwhile, went silent after the fourth inning. Brandon’s Andy Olmsted struck out four in three innings of scoreless relief. The only hit he allowed was a single to Beau Wallace in the sixth. Wallace was later thrown out trying to steal second base for the final out of the inning.
“He had a curveball that could pick you off and he started with the fastball. That threw us off with the slow pitches,” White said.
Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com