NATCHEZ &045; Everybody on the team already knew committing nine errors in a single game just wasn’t going to fly.

But Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir had a point he wanted to drive home.

It’s not that nine is unacceptable, but five, four or three would be just as hard to swallow as nine. The Vikings came away with a pair of wins Friday night in the opening night of the Cellular South Classic, but the scoreboard really wasn’t the most important number after it was all done.

It was this number &045; two games, two errors.

Vidalia beat Brookhaven 7-4 in the five innings and didn’t commit an error. The Vikings beat Cathedral 5-2 also in five innings with two errors.

&uot;Those are two pretty good wins,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;It was a different story from Monday. I think the difference today was we played good defense. Tuesday we wore our grass out hitting fungoes, and we didn’t swing the bat. We had a long talk about defense, and that was the difference.&uot;

The Vikings had two errors in the second game, but fortunately it didn’t hurt them in the long run. Both were miscues in the infield on hard-hit balls, but each time the Vikings’ pitching got out of the inning with a ground ball or a strikeout.

The biggest play may have been when Cathedral’s Charlie Lane slapped one to deep right center &045; the biggest area at Chester Willis &045; before Trey Keith made a running catch just before the fence to lead off the fifth inning.

&uot;We just had a defensive practice,&uot; senior first baseman Reid Simpson said. &uot;It was just fungoes, ground balls and defense. We were going to be on top of our game. We got everybody to calm down before the game. We beat Brookhaven 21-3 last year, and they said they were going to bring their No. 1 in here and they were the defending state champs. Everybody was nervous, but we just had to calm down.&uot;

The first win set the stage for the second game as the Vikings got the bats going early and never let the Green Wave mount a rally. The Vikings came with Jordan Brewer and sophomore David Watts in relief after Simpson and Brett Hinson combined to shut the door on Brookhaven in the first game.

The Green Wave got its run in the fourth inning couldn’t threaten after that.

&uot;We just looked lethargic tonight,&uot; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &uot;We didn’t look into the game. We sleepwalked, it looked like. I’m still looking for somebody to step up and take charge. I was hoping for one of the seniors to do it, but maybe they’ll come out and play a little harder tomorrow.&uot;

The Vikings’ four-run first also set the tone for the game as they touched up Cathedral senior Jeremy Davis for four hits &045; all with two outs. Hinson doubled before Simpson reached first on a hit by pitch, and Tyler Bruce singled in Hinson for the first run.

Lance Moore then came with the big hit of the game with a triple that scored Simpson and Bruce for the 3-0 lead. Moore later scored on a wild pitch.

&uot;I’m pleased we hit pitching like Jeremy,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;It looked like we struggled against the slow stuff. We weren’t patient. We were lunging. The only thing I’m disappointed in was we left too many runners on. We didn’t get the key hits. And I thought we struck out a little too much.&uot;

Davis, the Green Wave’s No. 1 starter, struggled in that first inning but got out once he got Trey Keith to fly out to center. Davis allowed a run in the second when Cameron Ainsworth reached on an error, went to third on a Brewer single and scored on a passed ball.

But Davis got two strikeouts in that inning, one in the first and didn’t let a ball leave the infield in the third before leaving the mound.

&uot;We still haven’t gotten many curveballs in (with Davis),&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We didn’t want to throw curveballs tonight. He had good pop on his fastball, but they’re a good fastball-hitting team. I wanted to get him 50 pitches. They did a good job. They had that big first inning on us, and we didn’t bounce back from it.&uot;

The Green Wave had baserunners in the early inning but couldn’t get a key hit to drive them around. In fact, the Wave went hitless until Alex Middleton singled in the fourth to start the rally as Jesse Morrison drove in Braxton Fondren (running for Middleton) and Preston Hicks singled in Morrison.

Brewer had his curveball working the first two innings and got five of his six outs on strikeouts before Watts entered in the third inning and pitched the last three.

&uot;He stepped up big for us,&uot; Simpson said of Watts. &uot;I’m glad to have him on my team. We’ve got eight solid pitchers.&uot;

Vidalia 7, Brookhaven 4

Hinson launched a two-run homer in the first inning for the Vikings, but they had to bounce back with three in the fifth to take the win.

Simpson went into the fourth inning before Hinson entered and closed the door.