The Vicksburg Gators have not had the easiest time of it this baseball season, but on Thursday they took a big step toward salvaging what was left of it.

Dylan Whitfield and Wayllon Ramo each doubled, had two hits and scored two runs as the Gators routed Callaway 13-3 at Bazinsky Field for a crucial Region 4-5A victory.

Vicksburg (6-7, 1-4 Region 4-5A) can still clinch the third and final playoff berth from the region by beating Callaway when the teams play again April 9 in Jackson.

The Gators jumped on Callaway for five runs in the bottom of the first inning on Thursday, then put the game away with five more in the third after Callaway had cut the deficit to 5-3.

Whitfield drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double in the first inning. Whitfield also walked and scored on a two-run single by Ramo in the third that gave Vicksburg a 7-3 lead.

Laurence Sullivan singled, walked twice, scored two runs and drove in two more for the Gators. He also turned in a strong performance on the pitchers’ mound.

Sullivan allowed one earned run in four innings of work and finished with 10 strikeouts.
Rashard Flagg pitched the fifth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced to close out the game.

Vicksburg will go on the road to play Pearl Saturday at 6 p.m.

St. Aloysius 13, Hillcrest 1
Tyler Breithaupt doubled and drove in three runs, Kieran Theriot walked three times and scored three runs, and St. Aloysius (10-3, 6-0 District 3-AAA) completed its season sweep of Hillcrest Christian.

Breithaupt doubled in two runs in the third inning, and then scored on a two-run single by Thomas Trichell as the Flashes scored five times in the frame to blow open a scoreless game.

They added seven more runs in the fourth — on only one hit, a leadoff single by Thomas Phillips — and went on to win via the mercy rule. Hillcrest committed three errors in the inning, while its pitchers walked three batters and hit another.

Brandon Steed allowed one run and one hit, and did not walk a batter in four innings pitched for St. Al. He finished with five strikeouts.

Cathedral 14, Porter’s Chapel 7
Zeke Flattmann hit a go-ahead single and ignited a seven-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning Thursday that sent Cathedral to a victory over Porter’s Chapel Academy (6-7).

Wade Dickard went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for PCA, which scored five runs in the fifth to tie the game at 7 before Cathedral’s big rally in the sixth won it.
Michael Tod Andrews had two RBIs and Josh Smith scored twice.

PCA’s pitchers walked 14 batters.

Ben Foster doubled, walked twice, drove in two runs and scored two more for Cathedral. The first four batters in the Green Wave’s lineup combined to reach base 10 times, had five RBIs and scored six runs.