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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

VINCENT – The Vincent Yellow Jackets continued their brief break from area play with a blistering start against the Ranburne Bulldogs on Monday, April 1 en route to an 11-1 win at Vincent Middle High School.

Calvin Johnson dealt with a lead-off single by Ranburne in the top of the first by striking out the next three batters to send the Jackets to the plate.

After Casen Fields drew a lead-off walk and stole second base, Grayson Gulde brought him home off an RBI single to give Vincent a 1-0 lead.

That was the start of three straight singles for the Jackets, the last of which was an RBI single by Aiden Poe to score Gulde and double the lead.

During the next at-bat, Lucas Mims saw his chance and stole home to increase the lead to 3-0.

The Bulldogs then lost command of the strike zone and issued three straight walks. The final walk of the sequence brought Poe home for the fourth run of the game.

Ranburne made a pitching change to try and stem the bleeding, but a sacrifice fly by Mattson Davis took the lead to 5-0.

That brought the top of the order back up, and Fields drew another walk to load up the bases for Gulde. The junior right fielder hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw to increase the lead to six.

Camden Cobb then drew another bases-loaded walk to score the seventh and final run of the inning.

The Jackets picked right back up in the bottom of the second and turned a lead-off walk from Ray Albright into a one-out RBI double by Ethan McEllrath. While running the base paths, an error allowed McEllrath to pick up two more bases and come home to make the lead 9-0.

A walk followed by a Davis single put two runners on base once again for Vincent, but a fly out on the next batter reduced it to two outs.

Ranburne couldn’t get out of the inning unscathed though as a passed ball scored another run and three straight walks brought Davis home to put the hosts up 11-0.

While the Bulldogs scored off a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth, that was all they could offer at the plate and the game ended after the fifth inning due to the run rule.

Johnson earned the win with five strikeouts across three shutout innings while surrendering just three hits and two walks. Davis took the save with a shutout fifth inning where he allowed just one hit and took one strikeout.

McEllrath reached base in all three times at the plate as he went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs and an RBI. Gulde also had two hits in a 2-for-3 day with a walk, two RBIs and a run.

Vincent will now look to improve on its perfect 6-0 start to area play in its series with B.B. Comer, with the first game taking place at Vincent before the scene shifts to Sylacauga on Thursday, April 4 for a doubleheader at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.