Sneaking in a game between rounds of rain was the main goal for the Vicksburg Gators. Getting a win was just gravy.

Pitcher Haden Luke had 12 strikeouts in a complete game, Jarren McCaplin went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, and the Gators beat Yazoo City 9-1 on Tuesday in a soggy season opener.

Vicksburg had its first three games rained out and barely got this one in. A light rain fell during the middle innings and a steadier rain started less than 10 minutes after the final out was recorded.

“This is the first year that I’ve been here that we’ve started off with a win. It feels good to be 1-0. It feels good to play baseball,” said VHS coach Derrick DeWald, who is entering his fourth season with the program. “We’ve had three games rained out, so it was just good to get back on the field and see what we’re capable of doing.”

The Gators never trailed. They took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, then blew it open with six more in the fourth.

McCaplin’s two-run double down the left field line was the key blow in the fourth inning. That made it 4-0, and the Gators tacked on a few more runs through errors and passed balls to take an 8-0 lead.
Alfred Barnes also singled and scored a run, and finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and a run scored. Chris Farrish added two hits as well.

The only thing DeWald was disappointed in on the offensive side, he said, was that they weren’t able to finish the game via the 10-run mercy rule.

“We got our two-hole guy up with a runner on second, let’s try to end it right there. I really didn’t want our pitcher to have to go to the seventh inning,” DeWald said. “But I thought, overall, we played really well tonight and I’m pleased with that.”

Yazoo City scratched an unearned run in top of the fifth, but never threatened to get back in the game once Vicksburg had blown it open. Luke allowed just two hits.

“He got over the century mark (in pitches) and that’s not really what I wanted. But he’s going to be a guy that gives us all he’s got on the mound, and I was very pleased with the way he threw tonight and now he doesn’t have to throw again until next week,” DeWald said.