By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

VANCLEAVE — Vanclave will play for its second state baseball championship in six seasons.

The Bulldogs dispatched South Jones 3-0 in game two of the Class 5A South State championship series here Saturday night to sweep the series and earn a trip to the Class 5A overall state finals. Vancleave will face Lafayette County at Trustmark Park in Pearl for all the marbles.

Saturday’s outcome came on the heels of an 8-1 win in Eliisville in the series opener Friday night. The Bulldogs won the Class 4A state title in 2018, and now sixth-year head coach Justin Edwards has them back playing for yet another crown.

“It’s special for sure,” a jubilant Edwards said, after the win. “I’m excited about getting to experience it with this group of players and coaches. I love these guys to death and can’t wait to step on the field with them for one last series together.”

Edwards and his squad got a pair of outstanding pitching performances in the series from Tyler West and Hunter Harper.

In game two, West produced his second consecutive Saturday shutout performance as he dominated the Braves from start to finish in picking up the win on the hill.

He scattered just two hits and struck out seven in blanking the Braves. It marked just the third time this season that South Jones suffered a shutout.

The outing from West came on the heels of a similar performance from Harper in game one, as the junior southpaw also went the distance on the mound to pick up the win allowing six hits while striking out seven and walking none and allowing just the one run.

“Harper and West were both lights out” Edwards added. “Giving up just one run in 14 innings against such a great team is a testament to their grit and competitiveness.”

West, who was coming off a complete game 3-0 shutout performance against arch-rival East Centra in the previous series, got all of the support he would need quickly Saturday from his teammates.

Harper cracked a two-out RBI-double in the bottom of the first that scored Hunter Parker and gave VHS an immediate lead it would never relinquish. Parker reached base on a single.

Max Bates doubled that advantage in the next frame with a run-scoring single to make it 2-0.

Vancleave added a final insurance run in the fifth frame when Kyle Capers scored on a balk. Capers was the courtesy runner for catcher Layton Eder , who singled earlier in the inning.

That trio of runs would be all West would need to secure his third straight win in the playoffs and ninth straight overall. He hasn’t lost a game since late February against George County, and he has a record of 10-2 and an earned run average of right at 1.00.

Parker had two hits, including a double, to pace the Bulldogs offensively.

“Unreal from top to bottom,” Edwards concluded. “These guys have put in so much work this year and to see it all come together like this is truly an amazing feeling.”