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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

TROY – The Vincent Yellow Jackets tamed a pair of Tigers on Saturday, March 8 as they showcased their skills on the Troy University baseball diamond.

Vincent defeated the Straughn Tigers 6-3 and the Class 6A Chilton County Tigers 5-0 at Riddle-Pace Field to extend its win streak to six games in a row.

The Jackets went right to work to start the afternoon against Straughn, stringing together four-straight singles to kick off the top of the first. Ethan McElrath opened up the scoring with an RBI single on the first pitch he saw, and Aiden Poe doubled up the lead by coming home off a passed ball.

Lane Mims then brought McElrath home with a sacrifice fly to take the lead to 3-0 at the end of the inning.

Dakota Newton started off the second inning like the first inning–with a lead-off single. Vincent got into a two-out hole shortly after that, but Poe overcame that with an RBI single for the 4-0 lead.

Aiden Gasaway put the Jackets up 5-0 in the third with another big two-out RBI single as he capitalized off a big stretch of six consecutive strikeouts from Landon Archer.

Vincent kept the Tigers at bay through the end of the fifth inning and extended their lead to start the sixth. After Casen Fields hit a one-out single and advanced off a Poe sacrifice, McElrath drove him home with an RBI double and put the Jackets in front 6-0.

Straughn broke through in the bottom of the sixth as it capitalized off a pair of hit batsmen to get two RBI singles and a run off a passed ball. However, Archer limited the damage to three runs and kept the Tigers quiet the rest of the way to take the 6-3 win.

Archer finished with 13 strikeouts and no walks over six innings, working around two earned runs, three total runs and four hits. Calvin Johnson got the save after allowing just one hit in the seventh.

Fields finished 2-for-4 with three runs, Poe was 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI and a run, McElrath had a 2-for-3 day with a walk, two RBI and a run and Archer went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run. Mims made it five batters with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Vincent then rode a commanding pitching performance by Poe to take the second game of the day against Chilton County. He struck out 11 batters in seven shutout innings against Class 7A opposition, working through five hits and three walks to keep a goose egg on the scoreboard.

That stellar play set up the offense for success, and the Jackets took advantage with three hits on their first four pitches of the game. Back-to-back singles by Fields and Poe led to a two-run RBI double from McElrath and an early 2-0 lead.

While the next two batters got out, McElrath advanced to third off the second out and would then come home off a Keller Finn RBI single, making the lead 3-0.

That lead carried Vincent most of the way through the game as the Tigers took care of multiple runners in scoring position over the next three innings.

However, when the Jackets loaded up the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, they didn’t miss their chance. Fields brought two runners home off an RBI single to take the lead to 5-0.

That was all the offense that Vincent needed as Poe battled Chilton County to get out of the final two innings unscathed.

Fields led the way with a 3-for-4 game from the lead-off spot with a run and his two-RBI single. McElrath finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run, Poe was 2-for-4 with a run, Gasaway went 2-for-3 with a run and Finn secured a 2-for-3 performance with a walk and an RBI.

Vincent improved to 11-2 with the wins and will now embark on its final week before the start of area play. After their Monday game against Childersburg was cancelled, the Jackets will host Lincoln on Tuesday, March 11 at 4:30 p.m. at Vincent Middle High School.