The No. 3 spot in the lineup is typically reserved for a team’s biggest threat. A 6-foot-4 first baseman who can smack a ball 400 feet at will, or a strapping shortstop who sprays line drives around the park like machine gun fire.

At 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 160 pounds, Vicksburg High’s Jonathan Clay hardly fits either description.

“Most people laugh when they see me come out and I’m shorter than our first and second hitters. I’m probably the shortest guy in the lineup,” Clay said with a grin.

Clay has heard all of the jokes, and it’s easy to smile through them when he regularly gets the last laugh.

Although Clay isn’t likely to hit a ton of home runs — he hasn’t put a ball over the fence in two seasons as a starter — he’s emerged as the Gators’ biggest threat and a bonafide star in the middle of the lineup. At the halfway point of the season he’s leading the team with a .451 batting average, has hit six doubles and driven in 24 runs.

“He’s having a great year. He’s one of the few sure spots in the lineup that’s going to show up every game,” Vicksburg coach Cody Zumbro said. “He’s just a tough out. He has the best at-bats. He’ll foul off two or three pitches and most of his hits have come with two strikes on him.”

Ironically, Clay credits some of his success to an up-and-down 2010 season. He started the year batting second, then slumped and was dropped to the bottom of the order. The move benefited him by seeing different pitching styles at different parts of the lineup. When he moved back to the top of the order this season, he realized the importance of jumping on fastballs early in the count instead of waiting for pitchers to serve them up.

“I have a lot of confidence at the plate. Last year, I was guessing. This year, I’m more mature with the whole thing,” Clay said. “This year I’ve just been working more on hitting the ball solid. If I get a first-pitch fastball I’m jumping on it.”

Zumbro said the new approach was a sign of maturity and wisdom from an experienced player.

“He’s by far the smartest hitter we have,” Zumbro said. “He’s been swinging that bat since he was 4 years old. He’s from a baseball family, so his understanding and baseball IQ is higher than most of the guys we’ve got.”

Clay has been nearly impossible to get out this spring. He has a nine-game hitting streak heading into a pair of crucial division games this week against Clinton, and the Gators will need him to keep that roll going if they’re to have a shot at the Division 4-6A championship.

Vicksburg (8-9, 2-2 Division 4-6A) fell behind in the pennant race with a pair of losses to Warren Central, then got back in it by beating Greenville-Weston twice last week. Two wins over Clinton (13-3, 3-0) would create a three-way tie heading into the last third of the division schedule.

VHS plays at Clinton tonight at 7 and the teams meet again at Bazinsky Field on Friday night. After that, the three division frontrunners will each have one game left against the others, plus another against Greenville. Clinton also has a make-up game against Greenville that’s yet to be played.

“These guys know how last year ended,” Zumbro said, referencing Vicksburg’s two late-season losses to Clinton and WC that cost it a playoff spot. “It came down to a three-way tie and the run differential. If we can get two over there it becomes a three-way tie and we’re sitting with a good run differential right now.”