HATTIESBURG — The Natchez Dixie Youth 10-year-old All-Star team got a great pitching performance out of Christian Day, but the offense couldn’t back him up in a 3-0 loss to Hattiesburg in the south state tournament finals.

Day allowed just three runs on seven hits, but Hattiesburg pitcher Dustin Payton was even better, tossing a complete game shutout on just six hits.

“Christian pitched probably as good as any 10-year-old I’ve seen all year,” Natchez coach Gary Farmer said. “He pitched one heck of a game. You’d think that in 10-year-old baseball, when you allow just three runs, you can win.”

Unfortunately, Natchez could never get anything going offensively and was shut out for the first time this summer.

“We just could not get anything going,” Farmer said. “Nothing was back to back, we just hit in spurts. We were really flat with the bats, which is very unusual for Natchez. Everything we hit was right at somebody. It was just one of those nights.”

Hattiesburg jumped on top with one run in the top of the first inning and scored its other two runs in the top of the third.

Day not only pitched well for Natchez, he was the leading hitter as well.

Day went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double.

Despite the loss, Natchez still advances to the Dixie Youth State Tournament, which consists of the top two teams from North State and South State.

The tournament begins Friday in Hattiesburg.

Natchez plays its first game at 8 p.m. Friday against the North State champion.

Farmer said that Wednesday’s loss only affected their opponent in the first round of the state tournament.

“I told the kids to keep their heads up, that all this was for to see what time we play Friday,” Farmer said. “There’s only four teams left in the state, and we’re one of them.”