Vicksburg High pitcher Clyde Kendrick labored through inning after inning, struggling to establish a consistent rhythm on the outside corner against Greenville-Weston.

Despite walking seven and hitting two, he had a secret weapon.

Using the brim of his downturned cap to shield his eyes, he picked off three runners and gutted out a four-hit, 124-pitch performance in an important 8-5 victory at Bazinsky Field on Tuesday. Two of those pickoffs ended innings with runners in scoring position.

“They don’t know whether I’m looking at them (runners on first) or I’m looking at the plate,” Kendrick said.

Despite the control issues, Kendrick had seven strikeouts and had several innings stay alive thanks to four costly errors by his infield.

“He pitched well enough for us to win, but we’ve got to cut down on the walks, because that gets his pitch count up and he gets tired late in games,” Vicksburg coach Ryan Grey said. “We’ve seen it with Clyde this season in the sixth and the seventh (innings) that he gets tired and the ball runs up on him.”

Cameron Cooksey paced the offense with a three-RBI night. His double and a two-out, two-RBI single in the sixth gave his pitcher some critical breathing room with an 8-3 lead going into the final inning. A.J. Stamps added a sacrifice fly on a ball hit deep into foul territory.

The rally proved to be critical. Greenville (7-4, 0-3 Division 3-6A) loaded the bases in the seventh thanks to a pair of walks and a single, but Kendrick got two strikeouts after a couple of runs scored to end the threat.

The Gators (4-5, 1-1) jumped out to a 4-1 lead after two innings, but a lull in the offense allowed the Hornets to hang around. Cooksey had an RBI double in the first and Lamar Anthony added an RBI single in the second inning.

Only two of Greenville’s runs were earned.

“We jumped on them early, but we’ve got to change our mentality, because a team like that, if you get on them early, they’ll get down on themselves and they’ll give up,” Grey said. “If you let a team like that stay in the game until the sixth or seventh inning, you’re going to be fighting for a victory.”