Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VIDALIA — With the playoffs out of sight for Vidalia High School’s varsity baseball team, the Vikings were looking to finish the 2024 season on a high note with a win over a good Family Community Christian School team.

Instead, the Warriors jumped on top early and cruised to a 12-2 win over the Vikings last Monday afternoon at the Concordia Recreation District 3 Complex in what was also Vidalia’s Senior Night game.

TJ Williams got the start on the mound for Vidalia against an LHSAA Class C FCCS team that entered ranked No. 3 in the Select Division V power ratings and got roughed up by the Warriors from Winnsboro, La. Williams went five innings and gave up eight runs, all of them earned on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

FCCS scored four runs in the top of the second inning and three runs in the top of the third to take command of the game. Vidalia scored its only two runs of the game in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 7-2 game.

But the visiting Warriors responded with one run in the top of the fifth inning and four runs in the top of the seventh. The finished with 12 total base hits and took advantage of five Vikings errors.

Vidalia had just three base hits. Gabe Rushing provided much of the offense for the Vikings by going 2-for-4 with a double.

With the loss, Vidalia finished the season on a five-game losing streak and with an overall record of 8-13. Head coach Seth Thompson said the Vikings had one last chance to make the postseason had they won at Grace Christian School last Friday afternoon. Instead, they lost to the Warriors from Alexandria, La. 3-0.

Vidalia finished at No. 29 in the Non-Select Division III power ratings. Thompson said the number of teams which make the playoffs in that division will not be as many as it has been in years past.

“They lowered it to 24 teams. We picked up a game Friday against Grace Christian, who had 22 wins. We had all our pitching ready instead of saving a pitcher. That game was the X-factor game,” Thompson said. “We put all our eggs in the basket. We out-hit them. We had the better pitcher. But we just couldn’t pull it out.”

Thompson added that if Vidalia had defeated Grace Christian, the Vikings, power-point wise, would have been guaranteed a playoff berth. But because of the loss, he changed who he was going to go with on the mound against Family Community Christian School.