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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

FYFFE – The Vincent Yellow Jackets took command early on the mound and backed up their star pitchers at the plate as they swept the Fyffe Red Devils on Friday, April 26 at Fyffe High School in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs to advance to the quarterfinals.

Vincent’s dominant 10-0 win in game one came off the back of a five-inning no-hitter from ace Aiden Poe. The junior secured eight strikeouts while allowing just one walk in the shutout performance on the mound.

The Jackets also worked throughout the first game to give Poe plenty of run support, including a six-run top of the third that featured three RBI singles from Casen Fields, Poe himself and Landon Archer. A run off a passed ball and a Ray Albright RBI ground out rounded out the inning.

Mattson Davis then resumed the scoring in the fourth with an RBI double. After Fyffe’s command issues continued and it issued back-to-back walks, the Jackets scored on three straight plays, including a Camden Cobb sacrifice fly and RBI singles from Poe and Archer.

With the lead sitting at 10-0, Poe secured four strikeouts in the final two innings to secured the run-rule win.

Poe ended game one at the plate 2-for-3 with three RBI. Archer also had a multi-RBI game with a 2-for-3 performance with two RBI.

While Vincent got out to another commanding lead in game two, the Red Devils threatened to erase it late before the Jackets claimed the sweep.

Fyffe loaded up the bases off a pair of one-out singles and a walk in the top of the first before a bases-loaded walk gave it the early 1-0 lead.

The Jackets recovered from the miscue and responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI double from Grayson Gulde after Fields singled and stole second to start the inning.

Over the course of the next two at-bats, Gulde advanced to home with an RBI ground out by Poe providing the final boost to put Vincent up 2-1.

Archer then took control on the mound and struck out the side in the top of the second to give his team momentum.

While the first batter of the inning got out, an error and Davis single set up Vincent to capitalize off passed balls during the next two at-bats. Both Ethan McEllrath and Davis came home off those pitches to extend the lead to 4-1.

The third inning came and went without a run, but Davis’ one-out triple in the bottom of the fourth positioned the Jackets well for the remainder of the inning.

Fields then walked to put runners on the corners, and on the ensuing at-bat, Davis scored from third off a passed ball to put Vincent up 5-1.

Archer struck out the side once again in the top of the fifth inning, and in the bottom half of the fifth, Albright hit a one-out RBI single to make the lead 6-1.

However, back-to-back one-out walks for Fyffe in the top of the sixth led to both runners getting into scoring position off a passed ball and then coming home off an RBI double.

That cut the deficit to 6-3, but the Red Devils hit Fields with a pitch to start the sixth to put an early baserunner on. The hit batsman proved crucial as two batters later, Cobb hit a two-run home run to center to restore the five-run lead.

The lead was not safe for long as Fyffe saw a crack in the door with back-to-back errors to start the top of the seventh, and it nearly came all the way back.

Back-to-back RBI singles left the Red Devils down just three, and a run off a passed ball put Vincent in further danger by making the score 8-6.

A walk kept the rally going, and the RBI single that followed made it a one-run ball game.

Needing a spark on the mound, Poe entered game two after tossing five innings in the first half of the doubleheader. He sat down Fyffe with three strikeouts in just 11 pitches to get out of the jam and secure the save as the Jackets won 8-7.

Cobb had two RBI in the win as he went 1-for-3 with a run and Davis went 2-for-3 with two runs.

Before exiting with one out in the sixth inning, Archer earned 10 strikeouts while working around two earned runs, three total runs, three hits and five walks to secure the win.

Vincent will advance to play the winner of Mars Hill Bible and Collinsville in the Class 2A quarterfinals on May 3-4.