VHS errors key Rebels in victory

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 1, 2004

VIDALIA, La. &045; Close the book on a week to forget. It’s finally over.

Mistakes in the field and at times at the plate finally came back to bite the Vidalia Vikings on Saturday, and leave it to Class 4A Pineville to send home a nice dose of reality. The Vikings couldn’t avoid the miscues as the Rebels took a 13-8 win at Viking Field.

After two not-so-impressive wins during the week against Crowville, the Vikings couldn’t pull the same off against a bigger school.

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&uot;We swing the bat, and that’s about all the good I can say about it,&uot; Vidalia head coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said. &uot;You can’t get away with playing ugly and winning against the bigger schools. It’s embarrassing watching us not execute the little things. It’s embarrassing to me as a coach. We don’t do things well mentally.&uot;

The Vikings (14-4) did swing the bat well, particularly late in the game when catcher Chris Williams slugged a grand slam over the blue wall in deep center that cut the lead to one in the sixth.

But the Rebels &045; who collected 15 hits off Vidalia pitchers Mac Ware and Tony Hawkins &045; didn’t let up in the top half by scoring four runs for the five-run final deficit.

&uot;That’s what I told them &045; I was real pleased to see that,&uot; Pineville head coach Steve Rachal said. &uot;We’ve battled adversity all year. We’ve had a nine-inning game and a 13-inning game. Last year we would have folded our tents, but our hitting is taking off. That’s what we wanted &045; to play a good team with good pitching. And we hit the dang ball hard today.&uot;

The Rebels (15-6, 2-0) went to work immediately to get back their runs following a six-run Vidalia sixth. Justin Gaston put Hawkins’ first pitch of the inning over the fence in left field for a homer, and the next two batters got on by an error and a hit by pitch.

Heath Hennington doubled in a run, and Corey Wiley singled in two runs to put lead back at five.

In the seventh the Vikings put runners on first and third with two outs before left-handed reliever Alan Sticker got leadoff man Chris Ensminger to strike out to end the game.

&uot;We made too many mistakes,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;We don’t get in our backups, and when a ball is hit we stand around in the way. We didn’t run the bases smart. We let things get in our head. We’re not a mentally strong ball team. We don’t do the little things right, and that was the difference in the ball game.&uot;

The biggest bright spot came in the sixth when Williams parked the grand slam to get the Vikings back in it. They struggled for five innings against Pineville starter Eric Dunnam, a little right-hander who rarely threw a fastball but came with a number of changeups and knuckle-curves.

Vidalia had just four hits off him in the first two innings, but things started to change when Hawkins clobbered one pitch over the wall in left for a two-run shot to start the sixth. Patrick Golden singled and was lifted for pinch-runner Jeremy Butler before Chris Ensminger walked and Ware reached on an error to load the bases.

Williams then tagged Dunnam’s 1-1 offering to deep center to cut the lead to 9-8. And Dunnam promptly exited.

&uot;I take full credit for that bonehead call,&uot; Rachal said. &uot;I called a fastball. I had a brain fart. (Dunnam) has got three speeds &045; slow, slower and slowest. He locates his pitches well, and he’s got a good changeup. He’s hard to hit. They started picking up on him, and I knew they would. I probably should have taken him out before that. My assistant coach said he’s probably had enough, but I was hard-headed.&uot;

The Rebels got on Ware &045; who was coming off an illness during the week &045; in the second and third innings before he left with one out in the fourth for Hawkins. The Rebels got a run in the second when Walt McGee scored on an error, and Hennigan had a three-run blast in the third for a 4-1 lead.

Vidalia got a run in the third when Williams singled in Ware, but Pineville got four in the fourth with two coming home on a Wiley single for an 8-2 lead. The Rebels added another in the fifth for a 9-2 lead.

The Vikings couldn’t get in a rhythm against Dunnam’s offspeed stuff early. They got a run in the first when Williams doubled in Ware but left five runners stranded in the middle three innings.

&uot;We don’t adjust,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;We swing at one bad pitch, and it’s like, ‘Well, that at-bat is done.’ Again, it’s all mental. But Chris is swinging the bat well. He’s one of the bright spots. He’s on fire.&uot;