By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

LAUREL — For the first time in 14 years, Vancleave will miss the state baseball playoffs.

The combination of three Stone wins and two Bulldog losses over a three day span gave the Tomcats the fourth and final postseason slot in Region 4-5A, after Stone beat Wayne County on the road Friday 9-4 to complete a sweep in that series and VHS fell to home-standing Northeast Jones 7-6 at the same time.

The five outcomes in 72 hours move the Tomcats to 7-8 in the region race and Vancleave is 5-9. The regular season is complete for the Tomcats, while the Bulldogs host the Tigers again today to wrap up that three game set, but the game doesn’t matter in the league standings.

It’s a severe blow for the Bulldogs, who came into the week not only leading the Tomcats by one game in the region race for that fourth and final playoff berth, but VHS also has the tie-breaker over SHS thanks to taking two-of-three games in that series a couple of weeks ago.

Stone had to finish one game ahead of Vancleave at the end of the week to grab that fourth seed, and that’s exactly what it will do under the direction of first-year head coach Adam Dyess. Northeast Jones, Purvis and East Central will be the top three seeds in the region.

In Waynesboro Friday night, both Kellan Burge and Nolan Scott each smacked home runs for Stone, and Burge ended up with three hits and three RBIs also. Carter Williams also had three hits, while both Scott and Saylor Wintzell added two hits apiece and one of Wintzell’s hits was a double.

Dalton Danzey picked up the win.

The key decision in the series was a 5-4 win in eight innings at home for the Tomcats Thursday night.

In that one, Scott cracked a one-out, walk-off solo homer to deliver the win.

Stone is 17-10 overall, and will face perennial state power Sumrall next week to open the Class 5A South State playoffs.

The calamatious week for Vancleave started with a 4-2 loss to NEJ at home Tuesday night when the Tigers scored two runs in the top of the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and pull out the win. The loss Friday night was the fifth straight in league play for the Bulldogs, who once were 5-4 in the loop.

The last time VHS didn’t make the playofs was 2012.