NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School had established itself as one of the premier programs in all of Mississippi over the last several seasons.

The Green Wave captured a 2015 MHSAA Class 1A title over Smithville High School after falling to the same school in the championship series the year prior.

Yet Cathedral will face a new challenge in 2016, however, as it slides from MHSAA competition to MAIS play.

“(MAIS) is definitely going to be tough,” Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said. “We hear some of the teams have pitchers throwing in the mid-80s.”

Despite the expected increase in the level of competition, Beesley remains confident in his squad as it returns 8 of 9 starters off last year’s 25-4 championship team.

“MAIS is known for baseball,” Beesley said. “It’s going to be tough to get back (to a state title appearance). But we feel we have a good chance to.”

Additionally, Beesley will have a plethora of experience returning as the Green Wave will feature 11 seniors.

“This is a good group of seniors,” Beesley said. “We’ve been waiting on them to come through ever since they were junior high … We graduated one kid last year (Quinton Logan), and he was good — he’s at Hinds (Community College). But other than that, we’ve got everyone returning.”

One of those returning seniors is starting third baseman Reed White.

“Being a senior, you’re in charge of leadership,” White said. “You’re in charge of the whole team … There’s a lot of (seniors). We’re going to have to keep control of the team and be a whole group.”

In White’s junior season he sported a .351 on-base percentage to go along with 20 runs and 15 RBIs.

“I want to play complete baseball and be good on defense and offense,” White said of his senior season. “I want to provide balance throughout the year, and I want us to play well as a team and win.”

Beesley said at the current stage he feels his pitchers are ahead of his hitters as they approach the regular season.

“If our hitting will come around, then we will be OK,” Beesley said. “We know we’re going to be good on the mound, and we’ll be good defensively … We played some good teams during our summer schedule, and hitting is what I’m really worried about right now. If we can score four or five runs a game, we’ll be good.”

Pate Shirley, Gabe Smith and Sam Parker all return for Cathedral after compiling a 14-4 win-loss record in 2015.

“We have a lot of good pitchers,” Shirley said. “Whenever we are at practice, we never just go through the motions; we’re always trying to pick each other up and try to help each other get better every day.”

When Shirley isn’t on the mound for the Green Wave, the versatile athlete will either be in right field, where he has proven to be equally as effective after batting a whopping .408 last season and driving in 25 runs.

“I try to go out there every game and just have and try to play to the best of my ability,” Shirley said. “I try to stay focus and do my job.”

Cathedral’s first game is slated for March 11 at Lawrence County High School.