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Cathedral’s pitcher Noah Russ thinks of three things when he is on the pitcher’s mound. Hit his spots, throw strikes and let his defense make plays. 

He said he zones in on the catcher and does not worry about anything else. He did exactly that in Cathedral’s 14-1 win over Bogue Chitto Thursday night in the second game of a double header. He gave up one run on two hits in four innings pitched. 

“My arm felt pretty good, I just threw strikes and let my defense do the job,” Russ said. “It is very crucial to have faith in your defense to make plays and to trust them.” 

From the mound Russ delivered seven strikeouts and kept the Bobcats at bay. In the first two innings of the game Craig Beesly said the game was really tight and competitive. 

Then an eight run third inning broke the game wide open for the Green Wave. Bogue Chitto struggled with finding the strike zone and wild pitch after wild pitch went flying to the back stop pushing Green Wave runners across the plate. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning Cathedral added three more runs to finish off the game 14-1. Beesley said his team was being patient at the plate which allowed them to have such an explosive inning. 

“I was glad to see them take some pitches tonight that were borderline,” Beesley said. “It might have been a strike but it wasn’t a pitch they wanted. I was really proud of that. We had some good takes, taking a strike is not a bad thing if it isn’t a pitch you want to hit. I’m seeing our hitters mature a little bit in the first four games of the season.”

Cathedral won their first game of the double header 16-12 over Franklin County. Green Wave’s Tyler Gregg had three hits and three RBIs in the game. 

Late in the Franklin County game, the bulldogs scored six runs in the top of the six to close the gap to 13-11. Cathedral responded by scoring three runs of their own and hung on in the seventh to get the win. 

Beesley said it was good to win both games in the double header. After being pushed in the first game, he said he was proud of how his team came out and played against Bogue Chitto. 

He said a double header prepares players for district play when the teams play double headers. Russ played center field in the first game before he pitched the second game. He said it is mentally and physically exhausting to play two games in one day. 

“It’s pretty tiring going into the second game but you have to work through it,” Russ said. “After playing the first game you are just worn out.” 

Cathedral will travel to play Bogue Chitto Friday night.