Vikings end regular season with 8-2 victory

[4/18/04]Warren Central is heading into the playoffs on a high note.

Mark Different homered and drove in two runs and Nick Carson was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs as the Vikings finished the regular season by beating Madison Central 8-2 Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader at Viking Field.

Madison (21-7) won the first game, 8-4.

“All in all, the second one was definitely better than the first one,” said WC coach Randy Broome, whose team fell behind 7-0 after 1 1/2 innings in the opener. “Anytime you can split with a team like Madison after getting beat like that the first game, it shows a little confidence and some good character in our kids.”

Different was 2-for-4 with a triple in game one, and John Rice Pettway, Carson, and Ryan Grey each had two hits, including a double, for the Vikings. Nick Hardy scored three runs and Nathan Wright was 2-for-3 with a double for Madison.

The Vikings (19-9) jumped on Madison right away in game two. Different put WC ahead 1-0 with a solo homer in the bottom of the first, and Otis Stamps and Allen Carlisle drove in runs with RBI doubles in the second and third innings, respectively.

Carlisle scored on an RBI single by Different to give the Vikings a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

Madison, meanwhile, was struggling against WC starter Josh Gordon. The right-hander allowed only an infield single on a hard line drive that riccocheted off his arm and a Josh Demoney double through the first three innings.

Nick Hardy finally touched him for a solo homer to lead off the fourth inning, which cut it to 4-1, and was pulled after allowing back-to-back singles to Charles Bush and Sean Rader.

Eric Douglas relieved and squashed the rally, and threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

WC took itself out of rallies in the fourth and fifth innings with mental mistakes, but put the game away with four runs in the sixth.

Nick Carson’s two-run, two-out single pushed the Vikings’ lead to 6-1, and he later scored on a wild pitch for an insurance run. Parker White, who pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, also delivered a two-out RBI single to make it 8-1.

MC coach Gregg Perry said the sixth-inning rally was the final blow for the Jaguars, but the game was probably decided well before that.

“We were only down 4-1 in the sixth and still felt pretty good about it. But you hit 11 or 12 flyballs and strike out five times, you can’t beat nobody doing that,” he said.

WC will have four days to rest and recuperate from several nagging injuries before traveling to the coast to face Ocean Springs in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday.

Pitcher Drew Warnock, who was injured in a collision Wednesday against Murrah, threw on the side on Saturday and should be ready to go, Broome said.

Gordon also received a scare when he was hit by the line drive in the second inning, but stayed in the game and showed no ill effects.

“We’re just trying to make sure we’re clicking 100 percent when we walk into that thing Thursday,” Broome said. “It’s the second season. Today was wash day. We finished 19-9 and had a great season. Now it’s the second season, and let’s go into the second one like we came into the first one real hungry and something to prove.”