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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

OXFORD – The Vincent Yellow Jackets hope that their season will end with a trip to Choccolocco Park for the Class 2A state championship, but for now, they can claim a pair of wins in Oxford in tournament action.

Vincent came out victorious over the White Plains Wildcats and Deshler Tigers on March 25 and 26 as part of a 2-1 spring break.

After a scoreless first inning for both teams, the Jackets loaded up the bases in the top of the second and scored the first run of the game off a passed ball.

That 1-0 lead held until the bottom of the third when Vincent hit a batter with the bases loaded, allowing White Plains to tie up the game.

However, in the top of the fifth, a Grayson Gulde leadoff double gave way to a hit by pitch and an Aiden Poe single to load up the bases. From there, the Jackets used their no-out advantage to retake a 3-1 lead.

The Wildcats then walked the next three batters to send another run home, making the score 4-1 at the end of the fifth inning.

Vincent got another bases-loaded opportunity in the top of the seventh when a Ray Albright double and back-to-back walks put three runners on the base paths with one out.

While next batter struck out, a walk restarted the scoring for the Jackets. Gulde then plated a pair of runs with an RBI single, putting his team up 7-1.

After Camden Cobb drew a walk on the ensuing at-bat, Poe drove in two runs with an RBI single to finish the scoring and take the 9-1 win.

Landon Archer earned the win with five strikeouts across four innings without allowing an earned run. He surrendered just one hit and two walks while dealing with an unearned run.

Calvin Johnson took the three-inning save after a shutout performance, taking two strikeouts against three hits and a walk.

While it lost its second game of the day against North Jackson 11-2, Vincent bounced back the next day with a tight win over Deshler.

This time, it was the Tigers which got on the board first as they hit a two-out RBI single in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead.

However, a triple by Casen Fields on the first pitch of the bottom of the first got the Jackets in business.

Cobb hit a one-out double two batters later to tie the game, and two batters after him, Ray Albright hit an RBI single to give Vincent the 2-1 lead.

Deshler responded in the top of the third with an RBI double and RBI triple and went back up 3-2.

While the Jackets were reduced to two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Cobb came up with a game-tying hit for the second time in the game as he hit an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.

The teams remained locked in a tie for the next three innings, and with neither pitcher giving much leeway, the game went to extra innings.

The Tigers doubled to start the eighth inning, but Poe recovered to earn his 10th strikeout, closing his day on the mound with 7.1 innings, three earned runs, four total runs, six hits and just one walk.

Vincent issued an intentional walk to try and set up an inning-ending double play, but a wild pitch advanced both runners to scoring position.

Mattson Davis bounced back with a strikeout and tried another intentional walk. However, a bases loaded walk on the next batter gave Deshler a 4-3 lead.

The Jackets got a fly out on the next pitch to send them to the bottom of the eighth, and they surged back to respond.

A Fields single followed by a hit by pitch and a walk loaded up the bases for Poe, and after his strong outing on the mound, he came up with the game-winning hit.

An RBI single from the junior scored both Fields and Gulde and gave Vincent a walk-off win.

The 18-3 Jackets will return after spring break with an area home game against Ranburne on Tuesday, April 2 at 4:30 p.m.