Vincent bounces back with dominant wins over Montevallo, Victory Christian

Published 6:12 pm Tuesday, March 5, 2024

By Andrew Simonson

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

VINCENT – After suffering their first defeat of the season at the hands of Leeds on Thursday, Feb. 29 in a high-scoring 16-11 battle, the Vincent Yellow Jackets quickly rebounded with another pair of wins.

Vincent defeated the Montevallo Bulldogs in a 14-0 no-hitter on Saturday, March 2 before beating Victory Christian 11-2 on Monday, March 4 in back-to-back home games at Vincent Middle High School.

After holding the Bulldogs hitless in the top of the first, an error and a walk put two runners on for Vincent with no outs in the bottom of the frame. Camden Cobb then hit an RBI double to open up the scoring, and Aiden Poe drove in another pair of runs on an RBI single.

With the Jackets up 3-0 after the first inning, they didn’t stop there. A pair of singles by Calvin Johnson and Mattson Davis followed by a passed ball loaded up the bases for Grayson Gulde.

He hit a sacrifice fly to score the fourth run of the game, and Poe picked up another RBI on a single to left to make the lead 5-0.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the third, Casen Fields, Gulde and Cobb hit three straight RBI singles to increase the lead to eight. An error and a passed ball on the next two batters put Vincent up 10-0.

Landon Archer then hit an RBI double to finish out the scoring for the inning with the Jackets leading by 11.

Vincent struck again with two outs in the bottom of the fourth as Cobb drove home a pair of runs with an RBI double, and Poe finished off the scoring with an RBI single.

That wasn’t the only thing that Poe would put the finishing touches on as he pitched a one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth to finish off a no-hitter in the five-inning run-rule win.

Poe finished the day with nine strikeouts in five innings without allowing a run, hit or walk. Montevallo’s only two baserunners of the game reached on errors.

While the Jackets’ second game of the day was canceled, they kept their dominant ways going two days later with a nine-run win over the Victory Christian Lions.

After a scoreless first inning, Victory Christian scored first on an RBI single with two outs.

Vincent got on the board in the bottom of the third with a Gulde RBI single to tie the game, and it quickly took the 2-1 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly by Cobb.

The Jackets put two runners on base before surrendering two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but an error on Davis’ at-bat allowed both Ray Albright and Aidan Gasaway to score.

Fields hit an RBI triple to increase the lead to four, and two batters later, a Fields steal of home plate and Cobb RBI single left Vincent up 7-1 after the fourth inning.

After Johnson took over for Gulde on the mound in the top of the fifth, an RBI double by the Lions cut the deficit to five runs, but he ensured that the Jackets would get out of the inning without allowing any more damage, and Victory Christian didn’t score the rest of the game.

Ethan McEllrath extended the lead to six in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single after Poe stole third.

Vincent then put the finishing touches on the win in the bottom of the sixth with three runs. The first came off an error following a Fields single and Gulde walk to start the inning.

Poe then drew a walk to put runners on first and second, and Albright allowed pinch runner Keller Finn to score thanks to an RBI single on the next at-bat.

A passed ball on the ensuing at-bat let Poe score the final run of the game as the Jackets saw out the 11-2 win from there.

Gulde earned the win thanks to four innings without allowing an earned run. He took three strikeouts against four hits, one unearned run and six walks.

Johnson then came in for the save with three innings of one-run baseball. The reliever earned five strikeouts while allowing just three hits and two walks.

Fields led the offense with a 2-3 day with two runs, one RBI and a walk, and McEllrath had two hits as well in a 2-4 performance with an RBI and a run.

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