During its recent run of success against archrival Vicksburg, Warren Central has done plenty of things to seize the initiative and win. On Monday night, it just had to sit back and wait for the Gators to self-destruct.

Warren Central took advantage of five errors and more than a dozen wild pitches to beat Vicksburg 18-1 Monday at Viking Field.

It’s the eighth consecutive win in the series for WC (8-3) since 2013. It has scored at least 10 runs in seven of those eight wins and won seven of the eight games by at least five runs.

“We still played the game,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said. “I think we did a good job of grinding out and doing what was given to them.”

Conner Wilkinson doubled and drove in four runs for Warren Central, and Brooks Boolos was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. The Vikings, though, only had six hits in the game and hit three balls out of the infield in the first three innings.

Instead of mashing the ball, they took advantage of Vicksburg’s miscues to build a lead and ultimately blow the game wide open.

After scoring an unearned run in the first inning, Warren Central loaded the bases with no outs in the third and the score still 1-0. Wilkinson hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Gage Ederington, who was playing in on the grass.

Rather than come home for a force out and a potential double play, Ederington hesitated and went to first. His throw sailed wide and went all the way to the right field corner, allowing all three runners to score and Wilkinson to end up on third base.

“That got the tension off us,” Wilkinson said. “It showed we don’t have to hit it over or hit it in the gaps, because we’re not going to hit it over. It showed us if you just put it in play it gives you a chance every time.”

Wilkinson later scored on a wild pitch and the Vikings made it 6-0 when Boolos singled and circled the bases on an outfield error.

Then things really unraveled for the Gators (1-11) in the fourth inning.

Warren Central batted around twice and scored 12 runs despite only getting five hits. Wilkinson and Boolos had back-to-back two-run doubles to make it 11-0, and Grayson Shealy had a two-run pinch-hit single late in the inning.

Three Vicksburg pitchers combined to walk five batters and hit two, and threw 11 wild pitches in the inning.

By the time it was over, Warren Central led 18-0.

“I want to give credit to my (starting) pitcher, Marshall Banks. He did an outstanding job. If we make plays, it’s a 1-0 game at that point. That’s 25 pitches, and we can probably get him into the fifth inning,” Vicksburg coach Derrick DeWald said. “He pitched his butt off. After that, you can see he wore down. When you don’t have a deep pitching staff and you give good teams chance after chance, you see the end result.”

WC starter Logan Stewart allowed one hit — an infield single by DeWayne Sims in the first inning — and no walks, and struck out seven in four innings.

Cory Russell led off with a walk and later scored on a ground out by Chris Farrish in the fifth inning for Vicksburg’s only run.

“That was a big, big bright spot,” Douglas said of Stewart’s outing. “We’ve been working with a slider, and tonight I think he figured it out. It’s a feel pitch and he threw exceptional. Low pitch count and he had good velo, located really well with the fastball and slider. With a pitch like that he can be very successful for us.”