BRANDON — Warren Central’s second day at the Mid-Mississippi Classic wasn’t nearly as fun as the first.

The Vikings committed five errors that led to nine unearned runs, and Hillcrest, Ala., scored nine times in the top of the fifth inning to take a 14-5 victory.

Warren Central has committed nine errors in two games at the Mid-Mississippi Classic. It won the first game, 8-2 in nine innings against Jackson Academy on Thursday, but couldn’t overcome the mistakes against Hillcrest (7-4).

“You’re going to have days like this,“ WC coach Josh Abraham said. “Great teams find a way to win when they don’t play their best, and we’re right on the verge of that. We’re ahead in the fourth and let one little thing kind of spin us and turn us sideways. That’s what we’ve got to work on.”

Field conditions permitting, Warren Central (3-2) will finish its three-game slate at the Mid-Mississippi Classic today at 3:30 p.m., when it faces Cullman, Ala., at Brandon High School. Heavy rain was forecast across Mississippi on Friday night and could render the field unplayable.

On a sunny, warm and windy Friday afternoon, the only sloppy thing was the way Warren Central played.

A wild pitch and two errors — one of them on a throw from the catcher to the pitcher, who was covering the plate on the wild pitch — led to three unearned runs in the top of the first inning. Two more errors and a dropped third strike in the fourth inning led to another pair of runs that gave Hillcrest a 5-4 lead.

Although the Vikings kept up at the plate for a while, the miscues in the field finally broke their backs.

Hillcrest used another dropped third strike and a wild throw on a bunt to stretch its lead to 7-4, then started scoring runs without any help. Austin Dickerson hit a two-run double, then scored on a double by Rob Perteet to make it 10-4.

Hillcrest sent nine men to the plate before Braeden

Williams hit a sacrifice fly to right for the first out of the inning. The Patriots sent 14 batters to the plate in all.

“We let a couple mental mistakes drag, and we held on to them instead of getting past them. We took what happened in the field into the dugout, offensively,” Abraham said. “You’re going to have those days. You’re not always going to be great. At some point we’ll figure it out, and I think we’re right there on the verge.”

Hillcrest had four players with three hits apiece, and banged out 16 hits total. Joseph Armour went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Perteet went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, and Williams was 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Dillon Broughton had three singles.

Cody Waddell went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBI singles for Warren Central, and Brandon Gates scored two runs.