[04/07/02]John Morgan Mims came within inches of ending Friday night’s game against Vicksburg, but his would-be home run was ruled foul.

On Saturday, there was no mistaking his game-winning hit was fair.

Mims’ one-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Mark Different to lift the Vikings (21-5) to a 10-9 win over Brandon in WC’s third straight extra-inning game.

“Last night he almost came up with the biggest hit of his life, but that’s our thing, we come up with big hits,” WC assistant coach Jeff Wood said. “John Morgan comes through in clutch situations.”

Mims, who entered the at bat as one of only two Vikings not to have a hit all day, drilled a ground ball through the right side of the infield.

The hit capped a third-straight game where WC’s errors were costly. In the last three games, WC has committed 19 errors, five against Brandon (10-14).

“We have to refocus and have two great days of practice,” Wood said. “We’re sitting here complaining about 10 runs and 12 hits, but you can’t complain about that. You can complain about the five errors.”

Brian Pettway, who hit his 12th home run of the year to tie the game 9-9 in the sixth, pitched three innings of relief to earn the win. He allowed one unearned run and struck out six.

“He had to come in,” Wood said of Pettway, “in the late innings and did a great job shutting them down. He’s gritty and is going to give everything he has. He’s the toughest player I’ve seen.”

The Bulldogs touched WC pitcher Steven McDevitt for seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings, after the WC sophomore cruised through the first three innings.

The Bulldogs fell behind 6-0 after the third inning, but scored two in the fourth and six in the fifth to hold an 8-6 lead.

“We swing the bats pretty good, but we don’t have the pitching,” Brandon coach David Lara said. “We don’t have that guy on the mound that can really keep us in the ballgame.”

The Vikings tied the game at 8 in the bottom of the fifth after Carl Upton and Tom Corbin singled and Different hit an RBI single.

Chris Hite had three singles and two RBIs, while Joey Lieberman had a double and a single, Upton had a single, double and an RBI and Jeff Mitchell had a double.

Mitchell also made two stellar plays in left field, gunning down a pair of Brandon baserunners trying to turn a single into a double.

“Those were huge,” Wood said.

The Vikings will play at Forest Hill on Tuesday in a Division 4-5A matchup.

St. Al. 14, Jim Hill 2

St. Aloysius scored five runs in the third inning and six more in the fourth to crush Jim Hill on Saturday.

Zane Key improved to 4-1 by allowing only two runs on four hits and striking out six.

Aaron George had a bases-clearing double in the fourth and Charlie Amborn had a pair of singles and two RBIs for St. Al (16-2).

The Flashes will play at Natchez Cathedral in a Division 7-1A showdown on Tuesday at 5 p.m.