[07/16/01] Warren County’s 12-year-olds are on a tear in their state tournaments.

The Culkin Critters are on cruise control and will play for their second straight Dizzy Dean state championship today in Starkville.

In Oxford, the Vicksburg Diamondbacks stormed out of the losers’ bracket of the Babe Ruth Tournament. They will face Meridian today in Oxford with a title-game berth on the line.

The Critters have won four in a row, beating Southaven 11-1, Louisville, 11-0, Eupora 10-0 and Crestwood, 10-4.

They will play Eupora or Crestwood for the title.

The Diamondbacks avenged an earlier 3-2 loss to Oxford with a 3-1 win Sunday to eliminate the hosts. Nicholas Carson struck out nine and Andy Anderton went 2-for-3 with a home run. Anderton also made a key defensive play, snagging a line drive and gunning down a runner at home while the score was tied, 1-1. Vernon Wolfe went 2-for-3 in the win.

The Diamondbacks went on to down Forest, 11-2, behind Spencer Pell’s two-run homer and Eric Coleman’s triple and double. Carson also had a three-run homer and a double. Stefan Gibbs and Porter Holliday combined on a 15-strikeout one-hitter.

In a 19-0 thrashing of Bay St. Louis, Gibbs went 4-for-4 and struck out seven while Stanley Bufkin had a three-run homer. Carson went 3-for-4, while Coleman and Wolfe had two hits apiece, including doubles, and Anderton chipped in two hits.

In an 18-0 win over Tunica, Wolfe tossed a no-hitter and had two home runs, one an inside-the-parker, and a triple. Carson went 3-for-3 with a three-run homer and Chase Smith went 2-for-3 with a double. Trey Robinson and Bufkin went 2-for-2 and Vic Tyrone had a double.