Warren Central coach Josh Abraham felt it was important enough to have his Vikings play a game at the end of its spring break and before Tuesday’s key Division 4-6A tilt at Vicksburg.

For that reason, Abraham says Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Brandon goes on him. Brandon pitcher Steven Smith gave up just one hit in his last four innings to earn the complete-game win.

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“This one is my fault,” Abraham said. “We lost our approach after the first inning and I will take the blame for that. Their kid settled in after his first inning and we got away from what we do best.

“That’s why I scheduled this game in the first place after giving them a long break,” Abraham said. “The baseball season has become long and they needed a break. But I also wanted to have a prep game to get us ready for Vicksburg on Tuesday.”

The loss drops the Vikings to 12-8 overall. They still pace Division 4-6A at 5-0 and own a three-game lead over Vicksburg and Clinton. Brandon evened its record at 11-11 and coach Neil Bartling was elated with that.

“Considering we started 0-6 and then were 2-8, to get back to .500 says a lot about our kids,” Bartling said.

The Bulldogs coach was also glad Smith was able to withstand a tough first inning when the Vikings rapped four hits to take a 2-0 lead.

“Steven just wasn’t ready for that first inning,” Bartling said. “It was his first start, but we’re trying to get him ready for the playoffs. He came back, settled in and got comfortable.”

Beau Wallace tripled into the left field corner off Smith to score Dee White for a 1-0 WC lead. Dylan Wooten then drove in Wallace for a 2-0 advantage.

Two infield errors by the Vikings allowed Brandon to tie the game in the third. Andrew Wilkes and A.J. Sampson both reached on the mistakes and then came in on RBI ground out by Drake Davis and a single by Joseph Veazey.

In the fifth, Veazey broke the tie with a solo home run to left off WC reliever Blake Jobe.

“Veazey has been a consistent hitter for us with two strikes and he maintained his approach and got something to hit,” Bartling said.

The Vikings got a fourth inning single from Colby Key and then nothing after that. Smith retired his last 11 batters in order. Eight of the outs came on either easy popups or flyouts. He struck out the other three, his only strikeouts of the game.

Veazey finished with three hits and drove in two. Sampson drove in a run off a squeeze bunt in the sixth to make it 4-2.

Wallace led the Vikings with two hits. The junior shortstop also tagged out three Brandon base stealers at second on throws from catcher Carlos Gonzalez.

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com