NATCHEZ — Cathedral baseball coach Craig Beesley hasn’t been able to scout his team’s next opponent in the second round of the Class 1A playoffs, but he knows one thing about them that has his attention.

“We’re playing Weir from outside of Starkville,” Beesley said. “I know they swept Sacred Heart, who was a No. 1 seed coming into the playoffs, so we’re looking for a pretty good team coming in (tonight).”

And from what he’s heard, Weir’s success comes from its pitchers’ relentlessness in attacking hitters, Beesley said.

“I’ve talked to a couple of coaches, and they all told me the same thing: Their pitchers throw strikes and make you earn every run,” Beesley said.

“I’m more worried about us though, and whether we show up to play. If we show up and continue to swing the bats like we swung them last week, we have a pretty good chance to be in the game.”

Going into the playoffs, hitting was a concern for Beesley, but the Green Wave (17-5) stepped up in their first-round sweep of Ethel.

“We didn’t hit the ball well for the last week and a half of the regular season,” Beesley said. “We practiced on hitting that week we had off, and focused on being selective at the plate and swinging at good pitches.

“We’ve been doing a good job of that lately in our games. Even our outs are hit hard. I think that all goes back to the leadoff man, Aaron White. He’s had a really good approach at the plate, and his performance seems to be contagious. If he gets up there and gets a hit early, it seems like it carries over for everyone else.”

Aaron White is set to start against Weir tonight, and Beesley said the rest of the arms should be ready to go as well.

“Everyone will be available depending on the situation. It’s going to be the same thing as always for Aaron: throwing strikes and being ahead in the count, and having good defense behind him.”

Cathedral is without ace starter Dylan White, but several others have stepped up strongly in his absence, Beesley said.

“Tyler Morrison came up with a no-hitter in game two of round one, and Daniel Huffines has really stepped up his defense,” he said. “That’s been our biggest surprise, how we’ll we’ve played defense the last three of four games.”

As far as a possible return for Dylan White, Beesley said he’s waiting on word from the doctors.

“We know he goes back to the doctor May 13, and saying anything before that (about a possible return) would just be speculation,” Beesley said.

“He has come out to practice with us, and we have to keep him away from everything. He threw about 75 pitches for us long tossing (Wednesday), but since he can’t catch anything, they just put whatever he throws in the bucket.

“It’s good to see him out here again, but it’s all speculation as to when he can come back and get in a game.”