Warren Central took care of business Saturday in Columbus.

Now Northwest Rankin awaits in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

Cody Waddell held a no-hitter through six innings and struck out 11 to lead WC to a 3-1 win over Columbus to take the best-of-three first-round series 2-0.

Waddell (7-1) pitched two quick innings in the Game 1 rout on Friday and came back to get the start in Game 2, picking up where he left off.

“He threw really well today,” WC coach Josh Abraham said. “He did a great job getting big outs for us. It’s great to get this series over.”

In the first inning, the Vikings (17-13) got all of the runs they’d need. Travis Barnett singled and Waddell doubled to lead off the game. Brandon Gates, who finished with two hits, ripped a single to plate Barnett. Will Stegall scored Waddell’s courtesy runner, C.J. Ross, with a one-out single. Cameron Upton grounded out to allow the final run to score, putting WC up 3-0 after one.

“I thought we did a much better job of attacking fastballs and taking advantage of fastball counts,” Abraham said. “We’re doing much better with our approaches.”

Gates paced WC at the plate with two hits.

Columbus scored its lone run off a RBI groundout in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of a walk and a steal to get into position.

Now that the series is over, the Vikings can look ahead to Thursday’s Game 1 of a best-of-three against Northwest Rankin, which took the team’s only meeting this season 14-1 on April 13.

But now, with the Vikings playing their best ball at the right time, that’s ancient history.

“With the kind of schedule we’ve played this year, we really don’t care who it is,” Abraham said. “We feel like we’ve got a solid chance in any series we play.”