Following its deep playoff run last season, one of Warren Central’s goals for this one was to show it could once again hang with the best teams in the state.

Three games in, the Vikings might be doing more than just hanging.

Logan Stewart delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday night to give Warren Central a wild 9-8 victory over Brandon.

WC scored six runs in the sixth inning to wipe out a four-run deficit, then won it after Brandon tied the game in the top of the seventh.

“We showed a lot of fight coming back like that,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said. “But what was awesome was when Brandon tied it in the seventh, our guys weren’t phased. They knew we were going to win.”

The Vikings won their third consecutive game to start the season. The last two have been walk-off victories against two of the top teams in Class 6A, Northwest Rankin and Brandon.

The wins have established WC as a contender in Class 6A, and it’s only part of the way through a difficult early-season gauntlet. Over the next two weeks it’ll play state powers Oxford — the defending Class 5A champion and the top-ranked team in the country by Maxpreps.com — Oak Grove and Jackson Academy.

The game with Oxford is Friday at 2 p.m. at Pearl High School. It’s one of four the Vikings will play in the Mid-Mississippi Classic in Rankin County.

“We just are out there playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played and playing for one another,” Douglas said. “Our guys are as unselfish a team as I’ve been around. It’s fun when you play together, and if you happen to make a statement in the process then that means you’re doing something right.”

Brandon led 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth when the Vikings caught fire Monday. They had six hits and scored six runs to take the lead.

Landon Stewart’s two-run double — after he missed a bunt and fell behind in the count 0-2 — tied the game at 6, and he later scored the go-ahead run on an error.

Brandon tied it in the seventh inning with a two-run home run by Kyle Bishop, but again the Vikings showed their resiliency.

Josh Lieberman drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position when Tyler McRight reached on an error. Logan Stewart then hit a slash single to center field to score Lieberman with the winning run.

Logan Stewart finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs for Warren Central, Tanner Chambers was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Conner Wilkinson had two hits and an RBI. Lieberman singled, walked twice and scored three runs.

Bishop was 3-for-4 with a homer, double and three RBIs for Brandon (2-1).

Warren Central had seven stolen bases, with Wilkinson and Brooks Boolos nabbing two each.

“Balls finally started falling and we started being aggressive on the bases,” Douglas said. “We had some hard-hit balls early in the game right at people. A very resilient team showed up tonight.”