Vicksburg Thunder’s Heath Carroll is tagged out by St. Joe’s Sam Maddox in the third inning of the Thunder’s 3-2 loss at Bazinsky Field. It was the first game in nearly two weeks for the Thunder, made up of St. Aloysius players. (Chad ApplebaumThe Vicksburg Post)

[6/20/03]Good pitching and fielding were not enough Thursday for the Vicksburg Thunder.

The Thunder, playing in their first game in nearly two weeks because of rainouts, had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Rob Jones grounded out to end the game, a 3-2 loss to Greenville-St. Joseph.

Andy Wiles took the loss for Vicksburg. Wiles kept his team close by throwing all seven innings, giving up eight hits and three runs two earned.

“Andy threw a whale of a ballgame,” Thunder coach Joe Graves said. “He pitched 72 pitches in seven innings, averaged about 10 pitches an inning. That’s an excellent job.”

St. Joe got to Wiles early on in the first inning with a pair of doubles to take a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Kyle Richards started things off with a one-out double.

After Drew Mazzanti flew out to center field, Jones doubled to put runners on second and third. Josh Martin walked to load the bases, but Joe Mocknick struck out to strand the runners.

The Thunder took a 2-1 lead in the third inning started by a pair of one-out singles by Richards and Mazzanti, who each advanced on a botched pickoff attempt by Irish starter Ben Maddox.

Jones then fired one right up the middle to knock in both runners.

Greenville came right back in the fourth with a pair of singles that tied the score.

In the fifth inning, St. Joe took the lead for good. With two outs, Sam Maddox grounded to Mazzanti at shortstop, but he lost control of the throw sending it over the fence at first base.

With Maddox at second, Max Freeman singled to bring him home and give the Irish the win.

Vicksburg had a chance in the seventh when Richards doubled with two outs.

St. Joe then elected to intentionally walk Mazzanti to pitch to Jones. Jones grounded to second, ending the chance for a comeback.

“We had people in scoring position in at least three innings where we couldn’t push a runner across,” Graves said.

Richards finished 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Jones was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.

The Thunder are scheduled to play at Central Hinds on Saturday at 10 a.m.