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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

VINCENT – The Vincent Yellow Jackets are once again area champions as they ended Class 2A, Area 9 play on an emphatic note.

Vincent finished area play with a 4-0 record as it swept the Cornerstone Schools of Alabama Eagles with 16-1 and 13-0 victories on Tuesday, April 8 at Vincent Middle High School.

The wins also benefitted another local team as the Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights clinched a berth in the 2025 Class 2A baseball playoffs alongside the Jackets. While the Knights were swept by Vincent, they swept Cornerstone to finish with a 2-2 area record, good enough for second place in the three-team area.

The two county teams will face either Southeastern or West End in the first round of the playoffs on April 18 and 19. The Jackets will host the first round series while Westminster will hit the road.

As for the games themselves, Vincent quickly raced ahead to a dominant lead in game one to end it off the three-inning run rule of 15 runs.

Back-to-back one-out walks in the bottom of the first set up a Grayson Gulde single to load up the bases. Landon Archer then drew a bases-loaded walk ahead of a Keller Finn sacrifice fly that made it a 2-0 lead.

Cornerstone would score in the top of the second off a passed ball on the final at-bat of the inning, but that would be its lone run of the game.

After two free base-runners to start the bottom of the second, Aiden Gasaway kicked off the big inning with a two-run double. Aiden Poe then hit a two-run inside-the-park home run to take the lead to 6-1.

Gulde then reached on a hit by pitch and made his way around the bases over the course of the ensuing at-bat with a balk, a stolen base at third and then came home on an error at third.

Two batters later, Aiden Wills earned an RBI single to make it an 8-1 lead, and the Jackets finished off the inning with a pair of bases-loaded walks and a fielder’s choice play.

Gasaway then came in to pitch the third and struck out the side in just 13 pitches.

Heading into the bottom of the third with an 11-1 lead, Vincent drew walks on three of the first four at-bats. Casen Fields hit an RBI single to plate two runs for a 13-1 lead, and after a Gasaway walk, Poe plated another pair of runs with an RBI single of his own.

Gulde then loaded up the bases with a walk to set up Archer to score the winning run on an RBI ground out, sealing the 16-1 win in three innings.

Poe was 2-for-2 at the plate with two walks, four RBI and two runs. Fields and Gasaway each finished with three RBI and Archer had two RBI.

Gulde got the ball to start the second game of the series and proceeded to strike out the side on 12 pitches. That form continued into the top of the second when he recovered from a lead-off walk with back-to-back strikeouts before Lane Mims and Poe caught a runner stealing to end the inning.

Finn’s one-out double in the bottom of the second was his team’s first hit of the game, and while the Jackets fell to their second out, a Hunter Buse RBI single kept the inning alive. He would then come home on a passed ball to make it a 2-0 lead.

Vincent then slammed the door shut in the bottom of the third with an 11-run inning.

Gulde quickly got his way into scoring position off a lead-off single, stealing second and taking third on a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI single from Archer. Archer then came home after advancing on a pair of passed balls for the 4-0 lead.

A walk and a strikeout put Vincent down to two outs, but a run off a passed ball preceded a hit by pitch and a walk to load up the bases.

From there, Poe kicked off a rally with a two-run double. Gasaway scored on a wild pitch for the 8-0 lead ahead of an Archer RBI single and Gulde scoring on a passed ball. Archer scored on a wild pitch for the 11-0 lead before RBI doubles from David Newton and Buse finished off the 13-0 scoreline.

The game was called after the middle of the fourth inning to seal the sweep for the Jackets.

Buse was 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs and two RBI, Archer finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs and Poe had two RBI.

Vincent improved to 21-5 overall and a perfect 4-0 in area play with the wins. The Jackets will close out the regular season with a pair of home games, first against Georgia’s Bowdon on Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m. and then against St. Clair County on Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m.