BUDE — Two late-inning homers spelled doom for the FranklinCounty Bulldogs Monday afternoon as the Vicksburg Gators collecteda 13-9 decision at the Bulldog Swamp.

Franklin resumes play today at 2:00 at Amite County. TheBulldogs host district rival North Pike Thursday night at 7:00.

“It was a tough day,” said Franklin County head baseball coachJohnny Daves. “We put the ball in play and did okay.”

Daves watched his club spot Vicksburg a 5-0 first inning lead,before Franklin rallied back to tie the game at 5-all after threeinnings of play. The Bulldogs got RBI hits from seniors JasperO’Quinn and Baron Jones in the process of tying it up.

“We made some plays and got some hits,” said Jones. “Errors hurtus.”

Franklin and Vicksburg combined to make 12 errors apiece betweeneach other. The Gators got a two-run homer from leadoff batterSteve Price in the fifth frame to take a 7-5 lead. Franklinanswered the Gators call at the bottom of inning with two runs oftheir own to tie game once again.

“We’ve got to work on routine plays,” added Daves. “Both us andthem made errors today.”

Vicksburg (11-2) capitalized on two Franklin County fieldingerrors and a solo home run over center by Gerald Mims to score fiveruns in the sixth inning. The Bulldogs tried to mount anothercomeback in the bottom of the sixth and seventh, but fell shortfour runs, as Vicksburg collected their fifth straight win.

Coached by Jamie Creel, the Class 5A Gators were led offensivelyby Mims with two doubles and a homerun for two RBI’s. Pricecollected three RBI’s on a homer and a single. Junior Tyler Wellsadded two doubles.

For the Bulldogs, O’Quinn led with two singles and two stolenbases. Sophomore Dane Hodges belted a triple.

Suffering the loss for the Bulldogs was sophomore Ryan Ratcliff.He replaced junior starter Dann Griffin in the sixth inningallowing four hits on one strikeout and one walk. Griffin struckout two and walked five.

For Vicksburg, southpaw Stanton Price collected the win with twostrikeouts and allowing bases on balls.

Junior Varsity

Franklin cooled Vicksburg off with 3-1 win. Freshmen BenMcDowell collected the win with four strikeouts. The talentedsouthpaw threw 101 pitches in the five inning contest.

At the plate, Ryne Tutor collected two singles while McDowellplated a double.