NATCHEZ — After originally being scheduled for two days, the Franklin County High School summer baseball tournament will be condensed into a Friday-night event.

West Marion High School was scheduled to play in the tournament along with Franklin County, Cathedral High School and Adams County Christian School, but a change of plans by West Marion threw the schedule out of whack.

“West Marion dropped out, and it took some games from us,” FCHS baseball coach Brent Calcote said.

Three games will be played at Franklin County on Friday, beginning with the Bulldogs facing off against the Green Wave at 4 p.m. Cathedral and ACCS will play at 6 p.m., and Franklin County will go against ACCS at 8 p.m. to wrap things up.

Franklin County already played in the Cathedral and ACCS tournaments the past two weekends, and Calcote said he was glad to get one more set of games in for the summer.

“It gives you a chance to play and see some of these younger kids,” Calcote said. “They may not have had an opportunity (this past season) because of some seniors in front of them. This keeps them from not picking up a baseball until February, and it helps with fundamentals and getting game experience.”

And game experience is the main attraction to playing in summer tournaments, Calcote stressed.

“In the summer, you may not have all of your kids because of vacations and other school activities, so for the ones you have, it gives everyone an opportunity to play,” Calcote said.

Having teams like ACCS and Cathedral that are willing to both come to Franklin County and host the Bulldogs in their tournaments is helpful, Calcote said.

“It’s closer, and it’s good competition,” Calcote said. “Natchez has some good baseball teams. You’d like to play three or four times a week, but with gas prices so high, it’s a lot to ask your players to be in Brookhaven Monday, Natchez Friday and McComb Saturday. That’s a lot of gas.”

While next season is a long way off, Calcote said he’s already gotten a few impressions of next year’s team in the exhibition games they’ve played in so far.

“We’re up and down,” Calcote said. “We play really good at times, then at times we play pretty badly. It’s encouraging, but we still have a lot to work on.”