By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

VANCLEAVE — Home-standing Vancleave hoped to make a statement Tuesday night as Region 4-5A play opened against visiting East Central.
But the Hornets had other ideas.
Defending back-to-back Class 5A state champion East Central rallied from an early 4-0 deficit with six unanswered runs at one point then survived three extra innings to snatch a victory from the Bulldog jaws of defeat 7-6 in 10 innings.
With the win over its long-time arch-rival, the Hornets move to 7-4 overall, while VHS falls to 7-6.
Mason Prouty’s run-scoring sacrifice fly scored Matt Combs, who doubled to lead off the top of the 10th, with what proved to be the winning run in the hard-fought and exciting renewal of this Singing River rivalry.
East Central relief pitcher Porter Martin then managed to work around a two-on, one-out situation in the top bottom of the stanza inducing a fielder’s choice and then a ground out to close the big win.

“That was a HUGE win for our team,” veteran East Central head coach Bo Long said, amidst the Hornet postgame celebration. “Going down four runs and then figuring out a way to win it in extras against a really good team like them is hopefully the kind of game that lets these guys see what they are capable of doing.”
Many observers feel like Vancleave will be the biggest threat to East Central for the top seed in the region this season in the newly reconfigured league after expansion in classifications by the Mississippi High School Activities Association before the current school year began.
The teams will meet two more times this week to complete the region opening three game series for both teams, facing off again in Hurley Friday night before returning to “The Landing” in Vancleave for a saturday afternoon matinee.
The Bulldogs took a 4-0 lead after three frames, thanks to two runs in each of the first and third frames. However, the Hornets countered with a trio of runs in each of the fourth and seventh stanzas to take a brief 6-4 lead entering the bottom of the seventh.
But the Bulldogs bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the last regulation inning to force the extra sessions before the Hornets pulled it out in the top of the 10th.

The Hornets lost seven starters off of last year’s state title team.

“I’m so proud for them to get a win like this,” Long added. “They spent the last couple of years playing behind the group that we just graduated. Glad for them to see that they’re capable of doing big things themselves.”
East Central had five different players register a pair of hits apiece in the winning 11-hit attack. Combs led the way for the Hornets with that key double plus a triple and he drove in a pair of runs as well.
Prouty, Grant Vick and Martin each had two hits apiece and also drove in one run each, while Nate Trochessett also chipped in two hits to the winning cause.

Martin, the third of a trio of Hornet hurlers, picked up the win with three frames of relief work.
Asher Henley, Martin Shaw and Hunter Parker all collected two hits apiece for the Bulldogs. Hunter Harper drove in a trio of runs while Tyler West had a pair of RBIs as well. Harper, Parker, West and Aidan Tapp each posted a double apiece for VHS.
Levi Tapp took the loss on the hill with three innings of work in relief of Bulldogs starter Harper.