Gators run-rule Provine without getting a hit

Published 8:21 am Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Vicksburg Gators did not get a hit on Tuesday night.

They didn’t need to.

In one of the strangest baseball stat lines of the year, the Gators scored 13 runs without getting a hit and earned a run-rule victory over Provine 13-3.

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The teams combined to put only two balls in play — a lead-off single by Provine in the first inning, and a ground out by Vicksburg’s Kearris Gilliam in the second.

Provine drew three walks in the top of the first and used a series of wild pitches and passed balls to move runners around the bases and score its runs.

Vicksburg, meanwhile, drew 10 walks and six players were hit by a pitch. It, too, used wild pitches, passed balls and uncontested steals to advance — and make its outs. All three outs in the first inning were recorded at home plate, as runners trying to score were tagged out.

Gilliam’s ground out, which drove in two runs, was the only out recorded in the second inning. The game was halted by the mercy rule after the second inning rather than the usual five.

Raymond Grey and Kaleb Doss both walked twice and scored two runs for the Gators (5-8, 4-0 MHSAA Region 4-5A). Cameron Myles allowed three walks and a hit in the first inning, but struck out the side in the second and finished with six strikeouts.

Vicksburg and Provine will play twice more this week — Thursday at 6 p.m. at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, and Friday at 6 p.m. back in Vicksburg.

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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