By Craig Brown

The Latta High School Vikings Baseball team remained undefeated in the division 1A playoffs by defeating the visiting Yellow Jackets of Branchville High School 7-0 Saturday.

Although the Vikings out hit the Jackets 8-4 the game was won on the outstanding pitching of John K. Love and the great defensive gloves of Cledus Williams at catcher; Jackson Williams at short stop; Caleb Mishue at third base; Austin Miller at first base; Dalton Lane at second; and later Noah Moody that came in relief for an injured Lane.

Eric McGirt took care of most fly balls in the outfield at centerfield but Brady Hatchell in right and McLeod Carmichael in left did not let any fly balls get by. The Viking fielders put the Jackets top of the order three up and out in the top of the first inning.

Eric McGirt led off for the Vikings in the bottom of the first with a double to left field. Cledus Williams beat out a bunt and advanced McGirt to second base. Jackson Williams loaded the bases on a hard hit ball to short stop. John K. Love scored McGirt and Jonathan Ray, who was running for C. Williams, on a base hit to centerfield. Dalton Lane got to base on a fielder’s choice that got J. Williams out at third. Austin Miller hit a hard line drive that was caught by the short stop but a bad throw allowed Daniel Khalil, who was running for Love, to score. Caleb Mishue added a base hit to centerfield that scored Lane. McLeod Carmichael ended the batting with a high fly ball that was caught in left field but the Vikings were up 4-0.

Love and the Viking fielders put Jacket order four, five and six three up and out in the top of the second to return to bat. Brady Hatchell got on base on a hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the second for the Vikings. Eric McGirt hit a ball so high into right field that the fans lost sight of the ball. The Jackets right fielder was battling the sun in his face and motioned that he had lost the ball before it came down. The ball landed about 30 feet behind the fielder and rolled toward the fence. Hatchell and McGirt scored giving McGirt an inside the park two RBI homerun.

The Jackets took down the next three Viking batters but the Latta lead was now 6-0. Love and the Viking fielders made quick work of the bottom of the Jackets batting order, taking them three up and out in the top of the third. Austin Miller picked up the lone hit for the Vikings in the bottom of the third and was left on base to hold the 6-0 lead.

Dylan Chavis and John Connor picked up base hits for the Jackets in the top of the fourth but Love fanned three batters and kept the Jackets off the scoreboard. Brady Hatchell led off for the Vikings in the bottom of the fourth but was called out trying to take second base. Jacket centerfielder Austin Hobay fielded two high fly Viking hits to send them back to bat in the top of the fifth.

Love struck out two batters and Caleb Mishue fielded a fly ball at third base to send the Vikings back to bat. Jackson Williams led off for Latta in the bottom of the fifth with a base hit to centerfield. Williams stole second base and scored on a sacrifice fly ball hit by John K. Love to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead. The Jacket fielders got the next two batters out and returned to bat in the top of the sixth. The Jackets got runners to base on a hit, an error, and a walk but no runs in. The Vikings went three up and out in the bottom of the sixth.

The Jackets failed to get a rally in the top of the seventh giving the Vikings the 7-0 win.

On the mound for the Yellow Jackets, Blake Peebles posted three strikeouts with no walked batters and one batter to base on a hit by a pitch, and gave up eight hits with seven runs scored for the loss.

For Latta, John K. Love posted 11 strikeouts with two walked batters and gave up four hits and no runs for the 7-0 shutout win.

At bat for the Yellow Jackets, John Connor was 1-for-2 also drawing a walk to base; Dylan Chavis was 1-for-3, also getting to base on an error; Hunter Watkins was 1-for-3; Sam Reynalds was 1-for-3; and Heathe Blakenship got to base on a walk.

At bat for the Vikings, Eric McGirt was 2-for-3 with a double and a homerun with two RBI; John K. Love was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and three RBI; Brady Hatchell was 1-for-2, also getting to base on a hit by a pitch; Jackson Williams was 1-for-3, also getting to base on an error with two stolen bases; Cledus Williams was 1-for-3; Austin Miller was 1-for-3; and Caleb Mishue was 1-for-3.

Viking Head Coach Don Cribb gave credit to what he called an outstanding group of young ball players and credited assistant coach Austin Morrell for the outstanding play from the infielders. Coach Cribb made no long term predictions and stated that we will take the playoffs one game at a time.

The Vikings were set to return to play at home on Wednesday to host the Class A, District VIII title game.

Photos by Craig Brown. Click the images below to view at full size!