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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Vincent Yellow Jackets didn’t let their Class 2A label stop them from pulling off upsets of a pair of teams from higher classifications as the No. 2 team in 2A made a pair of statement wins ahead of the final week of area play.

Vincent defeated the Class 5A Leeds Greenwave 8-2 on Friday, April 4 at Vincent Middle High School before winning a Saturday morning, April 5 clash against the Class 6A Pelham Panthers by a score of 4-3 at Bobby Hayes Stadium in Pelham.

In the first game of the weekend against Leeds, Grayson Gulde took advantage of a two-out single from Aiden Poe to launch a two-run home run and open up a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

After a scoreless second that saw each team get a pair of base runners, Vincent got a break with a walk and a hit by pitch in the bottom of the third to put two on for Gulde with one out.

A passed ball advanced both runners into scoring position, and Gulde brought both of them home on a line-drive double to left for the 4-0 lead. Two batters later, Ethan McElrath scored Gulde from second with an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-0.

However, Leeds responded in the top of the fourth, using a lead-off single to set up an RBI triple to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The Jackets got into a two-out hole in the bottom of the fourth, but a Casen Fields walk kept the inning alive. That set up back-to-back singles from Aiden Gasaway and Poe, the latter of which scored Fields and extended the lead to 6-1.

Vincent repeated the feat in the bottom of the fifth as Calvin Johnson’s two-out double set up an RBI single from Lane Mims for the 7-1 lead.

The Greenwave got a run back in the top of the sixth off a one-out RBI double, but the Jackets responded in kind in the bottom of the frame, continuing their two-out hot streak with a Landon Archer RBI double to finish off the 8-2 win.

Archer went the distance on the mound, striking out four batters in seven innings while allowing just two runs off six hits and a walk.

Gulde finished 3-for-3 with a walk, four RBI and three runs, including his two-run home run to start the game. Poe went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs and an RBI single, Johnson was 2-for-3 with a run and McElrath secured a 2-for-3 day at the plate, highlighted by an RBI single.

Just over 12 hours later, the Jackets headed out to Pelham to take on a former top-10 team in Class 6A.

After a quick top of the first, Mason Six fired a grounder down the right field line to put himself on second to start the home half of the frame. Andrew Petrock and Dylan Smith then worked a pair of ground outs to bring him home and take the 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless second, Lane Mims placed a bunt perfectly down the right field line to get aboard with a single. Fields took advantage on the very next pitch as he drove it high and deep down left field to get a two-run home run, flipping a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.

Pelham got its first two runners of the bottom of the third aboard off an error and a single, but the Jackets recovered by getting the next two outs. Ryan Hurd battled through a full count on the next at-bat to send a ground ball to short, and after Vincent had trouble making the play at first, Mason Six came home to tie the game back up at 2-2.

Both Poe and Braden Lee worked one-two-three innings on the mound in the fourth before Gasaway battled through a two-out hole in the top of the fifth to reach base.

After that, Poe sent a ground ball to short that caused confusion between the Pelham third baseman and shortstop and led to the throw going over first base. That error scored Gasaway and gave the Jackets a 3-2 lead.

However, Vincent had its own miscue in the bottom half of the fifth as a shallow bunt on the left side of the plate by Six caused some trouble for the Jackets and led to an overthrow to first. Jett Hopwood came home off the error and tied the game back up at 3-3.

Vincent remained in trouble as Hurd loaded up the bases with a one-out single, but Poe forced a grounder to short that Fields turned into a 6-4-3 double play to leave the game tied.

Hopwood entered the game on the mound and shut down the Jackets in the top of the sixth, but Fields and McElrath handled a pair of tricky ground balls in the home half of the inning to give Vincent its own 6-4-3 double play.

That sent the teams to the seventh tied up with the game on the line.

Mims kicked off the inning with a single to left, and he worked his way around the horn off a sacrifice bunt from Fields, a passed ball and then a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score the go-ahead run.

Pelham got its own lead-off runner aboard when Hopwood reached on a controversial call at first base. Six got him to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Poe forced a pair of first-pitch outs to end the scoring threat and give the Jackets one of their biggest wins of the season.

Poe earned the complete game win with three strikeouts in seven innings. Just one of the three total runs went down as an earned run as he worked around seven hits and didn’t allow a walk or hit batter.

Mims was the lone Vincent batter to register a multi-hit day as he went 2-for-3 with two runs, but Poe reached twice off a hit and an error in four plate appearances. Fields went 1-for-3 thanks to his two-run home run.

As for the Panthers, Six went 2-for-3 with two runs as he reached base all three times thanks to two hits and an error, and Hopwood finished 2-for-3 with a run while allowing no earned runs in two innings of relief. Lee secured six strikeouts across the five-inning start.

Vincent improved to 19-5 with the wins and will finish out area play on Tuesday, April 8 against Cornerstone Schools of Alabama at 4:30 p.m. at Vincent Middle High School. A win would seal the area title for the Jackets.