Cameron Upton, 6, of the Vicksburg Mudcats shows no fear as he waits for his at-bat against the Vicksburg A’s in the Culkin Invitational. (The Vicksburg Post/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[07/23/01] The Vicksburg Mudcats came back from an early 5-0 hole to down the Vicksburg Athletics 16-8 in Saturday’s Culkin Invitational.

The Mudcats got back into the game with a third inning rally.

“In the third inning we had a little pep talk about being the best. The little kids seemed to step it up,” Mudcats’ coach Marshall Upton said.

Bill McRight drove in the first of six Mudcat runs in the inning. Calab Upton drove in two runs in the next at bat.

Josh Eargle drove in Upton and Jonathan Clay followed with an inside-the-park home run to give the Mudcats a 6-5 lead.

“I was trying my best to hit it,” Clay said. “I thought we could come back and we did.”

In the fourth, the Mudcats put the A’s away, scoring six more runs.

Austin Mchann, Chandler Bounds, Cameron Upton and McRight each drove in a run and Calab Upton drove in two.

“We made a few errors that cost us,” A’s coach Jody Gatling said. “It seems like the Mudcats have our number.”

In other games, Will Stegall had a pair of hits, but the Vicksburg Mudcats fell to Forest Hill, 14-6.

The Culkin Mudcats upended the Vicksburg A’s, 14-8. The A’s won a pair of games over Forest Hill, 14-7, and over Greenville, 5-4.

Forest Hill also beat the Culkin Mudcats, 5-4.