NATCHEZ — After suffering a tough 9-4 loss to Lincoln County Americans Monday, the Natchez Dixie Boys 14-year-old All-Star team needed to begin the deciding Game 3 of the District 6 championship series with a bang.

And boy, did they ever.

Natchez scored six runs in both the second and third innings and cruised to a 21-9, five-inning win over Lincoln County Tuesday night.

The win puts Natchez in the state tournament, which begins July 19 in Hattiesburg.

“We came ready to play,” Natchez coach Brad Mullins said. “We told them that if we lost, it was over and they couldn’t get it back. They just decided they wanted to play ball.”

Natchez opened the game with three runs in the top of the first inning on a three-run double by Christian Creduer, but Lincoln County scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-3 lead.

However, the floodgates would then open for Natchez, as they scored 12 runs over the next two innings.

Natchez’s bats got red hot in the inning as they got RBI hits from Kim Mullins, Johnny Smith, Shane Pollen, Chance Fenn and Creduer.

It was the beginning of a big night for Creduer, who was 4-for-5 with four RBIs.

“The MVP of the series was Christian Creduer,” Mullins said. “He caught three games in four days which was very tough in this weather. He’s our best hitter. He knocked the cover off the ball.”

Natchez extended the lead to 15-5 with six runs in the top of the third on a two-run single by Smith, a two-run triple by Scott Turner, an RBI single by Fenn and RBI groundout by Tyler Jordan.

Lincoln County cut the lead to 15-8 with a run in the third and two more in the fourth, but Natchez finished off the rout with six more runs in the top of the fifth.

Mullins and Tyler Brumfield drove in runs with bases-loaded walks and Duke Simms scored on a wild pitch.

Brumfield then scored on an error before Fenn ended the scoring with an two-run single up the middle, giving him four RBIs on the night.

“We kept telling them we couldn’t relax,” Mullins said. “We knew they could score runs. We wanted to score as many as we could get.”

Johnny Smith was the winning pitcher for Natchez, pitching a complete game. After allowing four runs in the first inning, he settled in and allowed just five the rest of the way, even after taking a line drive off his wrist.

“We didn’t know how long our pitching would last, but Johnny did a good job,” Mullins said. “We were worried when he got that liner off his wrist, but he battled back and pitched one heck of a ballgame.”