[02/21/01] The only thing Kyle Simmons didn’t do right Tuesday night was convince his coach to let him stay in the game.

Simmons, making his first varsity pitching start, walked the second batter of the game, then retired 11 straight before yielding the mound to John Morgan Mims, who pitched a perfect fifth, in the Vikings’ 17-0 shellacking of Yazoo City (0-1).

“I told him the whole time since the second inning that I wanted to finish it,” Simmons said. “He kept telling me he needed to work John Morgan.”

With four tough games in a three-day span this weekend looming and Tuesday night’s game a runaway, Temple seized the opportunity.

Mims, who is being groomed as WC’s closer, struck out all three batters he faced. Simmons finished with six strikeouts and the lone walk.

“It was a sloppy game and I don’t think we played as well as we could have intensity-wise,” said Temple, whose team improved to 3-0. “In baseball, you go out and play yourself and try to better yourself from the last time.”

Tuesday’s game seemed to be little more than a practice with umpires as Warren Central batted around in the third and fourth innings and took advantage of nine walks, five errors and three hit batters.

Joey Lieberman led the nine-hit attack with a home run, single and three RBIs, while Brian Pettway had a home run, single and a pair of RBIs. Jeff Mitchell, starting at second base, had an RBI double and a two-RBI single both in the second inning as the Vikings took an 12-0 lead after two.

Lieberman’s two-run shot in the third upped the score to 14-0 and the Vikings scored three in the bottom of the fourth on Pettway’s blast to dead center, a Mims RBI double and Lieberman’s RBI single. Catcher Kevin Coker also had a two-RBI single in the second.

“We’ll see Madison Central and Northwest Rankin on Saturday,” said Indians coach Steve Ramsey, whose team was without four starters because of basketball. “If they are better than this bunch, I don’t want no part of them.”

WC will play Meridian on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Northwest Rankin.