NATCHEZ &045; Sid Wheatley may be in his first year with Mize baseball, but he’s learning quickly how things work with the Bulldogs’ program.

It’s never really over until it’s officially over.

That was the case Friday afternoon when the Bulldogs rallied for nine runs in their last at-bat to turn an 8-4 deficit into a 13-8 win over Cathedral to move into the championship game of the opening round playoff tournament at Chester Willis Field.

It put the Green Wave in Friday night’s consolation contest, needing three wins now to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

&uot;We’ve got four seniors who were part of that championship team in 2003, and those guys don’t believe that it’s over until it’s over,&uot; said Wheatley, who last coached at Loyd Star. &uot;I can’t say enough about how they battled. We had some young kids come through for us with clutch hits. Our No. 9 hitter had the game-winning RBI. They did a really good job.&uot;

The rally was enough to sink the hearts of the Green Wave, who were confident heading into the top half of the seventh and had two outs before the dam burst in the form of eight runs. The Bulldogs battered Patrick McDonough before Jeremy Davis entered to shut the door, but they ended up sending 13 men to the plate with Davis getting Zach Jennings to fly out for the last out.

The Green Wave had an at-bat in the seventh against reliever Zach Jennings and put runner on first and second after McDonough singled and Andrew Ellard walked with one out, but a strikeout and flyout behind the plate ended the game.

&uot;They just hit the ball that last inning, and we just couldn’t get an out,&uot; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &uot;It kind of reminded me of that South State game (against Mize) a couple of years ago when we went in 8-4 and couldn’t put the game away.&uot;

The Bulldogs finally broke out at the plate against McDonough, who allowed only five hits up until then and only two in the previous three innings. The left-hander gave up a run-scoring single before getting Zach Jennings for the second out of the inning, but things went awry from there.

Andrew Gordon singled in a run, but Justin Wood’s ground-rule double that rolled in the right-field corner scored Al Hunt and Gordon to tie the score at eight. Nine-hole hitter Chase Powell then singled in Chase Smith for a 9-8 lead.

&uot;They were making plays,&uot; Wheatley said. &uot;We finally started finding the holes right there. We played well, played hard and found a way to win it at the end.&uot;

McDonough entered the inning near the 100-pitch mark, and he exited after Wood’s double. Davis struggled for the first four batters he faced, including Chris Sullivan &045; who slapped a single to score Wood and stretch his hot streak for the tournament with six hits in six at-bats.

Ryan Cockrell then doubled in Powell and Sullivan, and Joseph Adcock singled in Sullivan for the 13-8 lead.