Berry jumped out of the gate fast and never looked back, rolling to a 10-0 run-rule win over Centre in the opening game of the Southern Athletic Association Baseball Championship final bracket in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday afternoon.

The Vikings (21-21) advance to play the winner of this afternoon's contest between Birmingham-Southern and Millsaps. The Friday contest is scheduled for noon EDT.

Three Centre errors in the first helped the Vikings get out to a 2-0 lead. Zachary Hardee had the first of his three hits on the day to open the game, moving to second on a fielding error in center. Nick Brunswick followed with an RBI single to plate Hardee and give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. With Brunswick on third with two men out following a Colonels error, Riley Uhls reached first on a throwing error, allowing Brunswick to score to make it 2-0.

The score stayed the same until the fourth when the Vikings exploded to cross the plate four times. With the bases loaded, Brunswick got hit by a pitch to score Joey Garcia as the painful RBI made it 3-0. After a strikeout, Andrew Pendleton drew a walk with the bags still juiced, plaing Garrett Lang for a 4-0 lead. One batter later, Lang landed a big blow as his single to center scored Hardee and Brunswick to give the Vikings a six-pack of runs.

An inning later, Berry put the game away. Levi Cloud led off with a homer, then three straight singles loaded up the bases once again for the Vikings. Brunswick reached on a fielder's choice, but Garcia scored on the play for an 8-0 lead. After a stolen base, Wesley Wade hit a ground ball. Centre sent the ball home to try and get Lang out at the dish, but with the bases not loaded, the force wasn't in effect and no tag effort was made. Wade had an RBI and the Vikings had a 9-0 lead. Pendleton then put the ball in play, scoring Brunswick as Centre was unable to turn a double play thanks to the fourth Colonels error of the contest.

Centre (28-16) was unable to mount any offense against Patrick O'Rourke, who retired the last 17 batters he faced en route to a seven-inning shutout. The Colonels never had a base hit that left the infield and only advanced two runners as far as second in the entirety of the contest. O'Rourke (7-1) needed just 74 pitches to get the needed 21 outs, preserving Berry's bullpen for the remainder of the bracket.