Vikings take Game 1 from Hernando

Published 10:51 pm Friday, April 20, 2018

After hitting nothing but pop ups and fly balls for the first four innings Friday night, Warren Central finally found some success by staying grounded.

Vantrel Reed slapped an awkward-looking ground ball off the glove of second baseman Grant Johnson that turned into an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning. The hit scored Hank Holdiness from first base with the game’s only run, and the Vikings fended off Hernando 1-0 in Game 1 of their Class 6A baseball playoff series.

Warren Central (21-8) can win the first-round series by taking Game 2 tonight at 6 at Hernando (13-14).

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“No matter how you write it, how you script it out, Game 1s are always a little different than what you anticipate. You just want to get out of there with a win. It’s good to escape with a win,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said.

Reed’s hit was only the third ground ball Warren Central had put in play at that point. Eight of its first 12 outs were recorded through the air, and the other four were strikeouts by Hernando pitcher Connor Spencer.

Holdiness lined a two-out single to left field — his second hit of the game; the first was an infield hit in the third inning — and was trying to steal second when Reed took advantage of the opportunity.

Reed swung late but managed to get enough on the ball to hit a sharp grounder to the right side of second base. Johnson slightly overran it, and when he tried to cut back the ball took a hop off the infield dirt and his glove and caromed into right field. The ball rolled to the wall and Holdiness scored without a play to break a scoreless tie.

“It (the pitch) was high and I just felt like I could get the barrel to it. My man was stealing and I wanted to hit it to the right side,” Reed said. “I knew it was going to happen. When I saw the second baseman running in, I knew I could get it over there and I did.”

The slim lead was all Warren Central’s pitchers needed. Christian Oakes danced around a couple of jams to throw six scoreless innings and Colin Standish struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh to earn his seventh save of the season.

Standish has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances.

Oakes allowed seven hits and struck out four. Hernando had runners on in five of the six innings he was on the mound, but never broke through. The Tigers left the bases loaded in the third inning, had a runner doubled off first on a fly ball in the sixth, and another called out for interference in the fourth when he collided with the shortstop Reed while advancing to third on a ground ball.

“(Oakes) did a fantastic job. He just does what he does. He’s a competitor. No situation is ever too big for him, and that’s why he’s out there in your big games is because he has ice in his veins. He stepped up when he had to, when the runners were out there when he got in jams,” Douglas said. “And when you hear Colin Standish’s walkout music coming on you know it’s a good thing because he’s been lights out all year for us.”

WARREN CENTRAL VS. HERNANDO
Game 1: Warren Central 1, Hernando 0
Game 2: Saturday, 6 p.m., at Hernando
x-Game 3: Monday, 6 p.m., at Warren Central
(Best-of-three series; x-if necessary)

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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