CLINTON — The baseball rivalry between Warren Central and Clinton has ebbed and flowed over the past decade. Each team has won its share of games and the division championships that came with them, while generally dominating the rest of Division 4-6A.

For right now, at least, the tide is heading toward Clinton.

Adam Moncure belted a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday to give the Arrows a 3-1 win over Warren Central and a huge leg up in their season series.

It was also Clinton’s (11-4, 5-0 Division 4-6A) fourth win in a row against WC, after the Vikings had won the previous four.

“My 10th grade year, they started off beating us in every district game. Then my junior year we started beating them 3-0. So to make it four in a row, that’s pretty good for us,” said Moncure, a senior center fielder. “We know they’re a good ball team and we’re just trying to play good competition for the playoffs.”

The teams will play again April 10 in Vicksburg and April 13 in Clinton. Warren Central (13-6, 4-1) needs to win both to claim the Division 4-6A championship and a first-round bye in the Class 6A playoffs.

“It puts you back in a corner, but they’ve still got to come to our place on that Tuesday,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said. “We’ll either come out fighting and force a Game 3 here, or we can lay down. Our guys will fight back, but we’ve got to do a better job at the plate.”

The Vikings only had three hits and struck out 13 times against Clinton pitchers Dallas Dyar and Courtland Posey. Dyar took a shutout into the sixth inning before the Vikings were able to manufacture a run.

Alan Kivett was hit by a pitch, stole second and then went to third on a wild pitch. Caleb Sterling then hit a fly ball to right field that was deep enough for Kivett to score and tie the game at 1. Landan Stewart followed with a double to the gap in right center field, but was stranded there.

Posey pitched the last three innings and only allowed one hit, a two-out single by Sean Daily in the top of the ninth. Posey had five strikeouts.

“It’s tough to swallow. We had chances all night and didn’t get the job done. Nobody stepped up and got the hit. We got that one run when it mattered, but the rest of the night we had runners in scoring position and didn’t get them in,” Douglas said. “I think the wind was blowing out and guys were trying to hit it out instead of going simple. I don’t think we competed at the plate like we should. It was a big game, and a lot of guys let the pressure get to them.”

Clinton missed its share of chances, too. It scored its first run on a squeeze bunt by Moncure and an error in the second inning, and then left runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The Arrows had runners at second and third with one out in the sixth, but Posey was caught in a rundown between third and home following a botched squeeze bunt attempt and Dyar struck out to end the threat.

Christian Oakes allowed one unearned run in 4 1/3 innings, and struck out six for the Vikings. Kivett pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out three.

“They threw a heck of a game. They don’t deserve to lose that game. I’m very proud of the way they competed. They gave us a chance to win,” Douglas said of his pitchers.

Moncure, however, gave the Arrows an even better opportunity.

Kivett plunked Walker Burchfield to start the bottom of the ninth. After swinging and missing at the first pitch, Moncure smashed a line drive over the left center field fence for the game-winning home run.

“I was trying to do too much,” Moncure said. “On the first pitch, I swung and was looking toward the fence. Then I heard one of the dads back there say, ‘Just tap it.’ So I just swung the bat and tapped it, and it went a long way. I looked at the center fielder and he wasn’t moving.”

Vicksburg 15, Callaway 2

The Vicksburg Gators turned in perhaps their best effort of the season at the most critical time.

Alfred Barnes went 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and two runs scored, Haden Luke went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and the Gators (3-12, 1-4 Division 4-5A) routed Callaway (0-7, 0-5) to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Vicksburg and Callaway will play again Thursday at 7 p.m. at Bazinsky Field. Vicksburg can all but clinch a playoff berth with another win.

Vicksburg snapped a seven-game losing streak by posting its highest run total of the season. It had been shut out in three of its previous four games.

The Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Chris Farrish doubled in two runs and scored on a single by Luke. They pulled away late by scoring twice in the fifth inning, four times in the sixth and five times in the seventh.

Farrish and Dylan Whitfield each had two RBIs, and Malik Barnes scored three runs for VHS.

Luke pitched a complete game. He allowed two runs, one earned, two hits and two walks. He also had 11 strikeouts.