JACKSON — Between innings Tuesday, Justin Jones took a few self-deprecating jabs about his robust 29.40 ERA and general inability to find the strike zone this season.

Then, when it came time to go back out to the mound, he was all business.

The senior right-hander allowed one hit and no walks in four shutout innings to lead Vicksburg High to a 10-0 win over Lanier at Smith-Wills Stadium. Jones struck out six and also helped his own cause with an RBI single in the second inning.

It was by far the best outing of Jones’ career. In eight total appearances in 2014 and ’15 he’d allowed 11 earned runs, walked nine batters and struck out six in seven innings. In his one start this year, Jones was torched for three runs in 1 1/3 innings to send his ERA skyrocketing to 29.40. Tuesday’s performance chopped that down to 8.75.

“It was about time. I threw strikes. I know coach liked it,” Jones said. “I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself. I let it down to see if they could hit it, and it worked out.”

The Gators (6-11, 5-3 Division 4-5A) were never threatened by a hapless Lanier (0-8, 0-7) team, but still muddled their way to the victory.

They hit into a fly out double play to end the second inning, left the bases loaded in the fourth when another run could have pushed them over the 10-run mercy rule threshold, and missed a few other chances to pad the lead.

Those kinks weren’t enough to keep them from winning easily, though.

Lee Middleton went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Will Martin had an RBI triple, and Chris Prentiss was 2-for-2 with a double, RBI and two runs scored. Vicksburg led 9-0 after three innings and finished it by the mercy rule in five.

Lanier’s only hit was a leadoff double in the second by Jeremy Sinclair

“It gets frustrating at times. We work on situational hitting,” Vicksburg coach Derrick DeWald said. “Early on, you could tell we were a little sluggish. After the first time through we started to get a little better. We got 10 runs after five, and that’s what we came here to do.”