MIZE &045; This time the timely hits just weren’t there.

And Josh Melton came back with that nasty curveball he had Friday night.

The Cathedral Green Wave finished with 10 hits but stranded 13 runners on base in a 5-3 loss to Mize in Game 2 of the best-of-three Class 1A playoff series.

Game 3 is scheduled for Monday in Natchez.

&uot;We left 13 runners on base, and that was the difference in the game,&uot; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &uot;We couldn’t get the key hit tonight. Melton threw 110 pitches, and he probably could throw an inning or two (Monday). I think we’ll score some runs on Monday. We had our opportunities to score tonight, but we didn’t get the hit we needed.&uot;

The Green Wave left the bases loaded twice and left two runners on three times. Melton kept the Green Wave off balance at times with the curveball, and he used it to get out of a couple jams.

In the first the Wave had the bases loaded, but Garrett Jones was thrown out at the plate on a flyout by Te Riley. In the fourth the bases were loaded with one out before Jeremy Davis struck out and Riley grounded out.

In the fifth the bases were loaded with two outs, and Jones struck out to end it.

&uot;He threw the curveball on the outside corner, and that was his out pitch tonight,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We couldn’t get any contact on it tonight. His fastball didn’t give us any trouble.&uot;

The Green Wave trailed 2-0 after the first inning after a Melton two-run blast and got its first run in the third when Michael Blain scored on a sacrifice fly by Riley.

Mize scored another in the third off Cathedral starter Chris Norris for a 3-1 lead, but the Green Wave answered in the fourth when Nick Anderson scored from second on an error by the second baseman. Mize then scored two in the bottom half with one on a Zach Jennings homer for a 5-2 lead before Cathedral scored again in the fifth when Rodney Daggett singled in Wyler Murray.

In the seventh the Green Wave had a rally against Melton when Murray and Preston Hicks singled to put the tying run at second base. But Melton got Daggett and Blain on infield groundouts to end the game.