[04/29/01] MADISON Madison Central had as much luck figuring out Carl Upton as it did Taylor Tankersley.

One day after being one-hit by Tankersley, the Jaguars (22-6) managed just two hits off Upton as the Vikings (32-3) advanced to their first North State Championship series with a 5-0 win.

Warren Central will now go to nemesis Tupelo on Thursday for the first game of their best-of-three series.

Upton improved to 10-0 by striking out six and allowing a bloop single to Rob Blackledge and a sixth-inning single to Brett Byrd.

“They are a good-hitting team. All I try to do is throw strikes,” said Upton, who recorded his second win of the postseason. “Coach calls the pitches and I just throw. He knows everything about the batters.”

Upton pitched the entire game without starting catcher Kevin Coker. The senior injured the middle finger on his non-throwing hand while diving head-first into first base to beat out an infield grounder on the first play of the game.

Coker was safe, but got up shaking his hand. He was taken to a hospital, but returned in the seventh inning with his finger in a splint. He planned to see another doctor on Saturday. His status for the rest of the playoffs is in question.

Jeff Mitchell, who replaced Coker as a courtesy runner, moved to second on a wild pitch, then scored all the way from second on Tankersley’s sacrifice bunt for a 1-0 lead.

“Things were able to go our way again today and that’s been the story of this series,” said Temple, who guided the Vikings to a school-record 32nd win. “We played them four times (this season) and it all came down to who got the breaks, and we got them again today.”

Warren Central won 1-0 in the first three meetings and appeared to be headed in that same direction on Saturday.

The game went into the seventh with WC clinging to a 1-0 lead. Tyler DeRossette, who along with Kyle Simmons had two hits, belted a one-out single in the last inning. Simmons followed with a single, then Tom Corbin, who replaced Coker in the lineup, reached on an error to load the bases.

Tankersley followed with an RBI single, then Simmons scored on a balk to give WC a 3-0 lead. The Vikings added two more on a bases-loaded walk to Brent Towne and Joey Lieberman’s sacrifice fly to center that scored Tankersley.

“Once they went three or four to nothing, it was pretty difficult (to come back),” MC coach Mike Rosamond said.

“Two to nothing, we could overcome that, but add those other runs and it gets in your mind.”

Bo Bradberry (7-3) pitched a complete game, allowing just six hits and striking out two. He also surrendered three walks and was hurt by a pair of Jaguars’ errors.

“Last time we faced him, he had a really good slider,” DeRossette said. ” … His fastball was pretty fat. It wasn’t what we’ve been used to.”

Nursing the biggest lead of the series, Upton struck out Mississippi State signee Brian Johnson and Belhaven signee Brandon Ingle. Dillon Suddeth hit a sinking line drive that was snared by Kyle Simmons, who tossed to Tankersley for the final out.

“We didn’t want to make those errors, but Kyle came back and made some plays when he had to,” Temple said. “… He makes the last play of the ballgame on a tough hop.”

Madison’s best chance to break through came in the bottom of the sixth. Blackledge reached on an error. After Upton struck out LSU signee Chamar McDonald swinging, Byrd singled Blackledge to second.

Upton coaxed a fielder’s choice ground ball from Mark Grogan to end the threat.

Blackledge got the only other Jaguars’ hit to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but Upton got two straight outs with runners on first and second to keep the game 1-0.

“Offensively, we just didn’t get the job done,” Rosamond said.

“It’s one of those things; that’s baseball. But the sun will shine on us one day.”

Warren Central, which entered the game with a No. 16 national ranking by USA Today, will face the hottest team in the state in the Golden Wave.

With its victory over Clinton on Saturday, Tupelo extended its winning streak to 23 games. In their lone meeting this year, WC won on a wind-filled, cold day at Pearl.

“It’s gonna be another war,” said Temple, whose team was knocked out of the second round of the playoffs two seasons ago by Tupelo. ” … They want a chance at us and we want another chance at them. It should be really exciting.

“It’s fantastic for our program to be playing for North State. It’s something we’ve been working for for years. We have to take the same approach we have and work hard.”