NATCHEZ &045; Times like these call for emergency pitchers to come to the rescue.

It’s the stretch run of the district but with rain-out games peppered in the middle &045; a schedule that can wear down a pitching staff big time. So when the Cathedral Green Wave called on Garrett Jones to make his first start of the season, he delivered.

Jones allowed just five hits and got the support of some tenacious offense as the Green Wave pasted West Lincoln 15-2 in five innings to stay unbeaten in Division 7-1A.

&uot;That’s his first time to pitch a varsity game,&uot; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &uot;You wouldn’t have known that by the way he went out there and performed for us. We’ve got 12 guys that throw at practice, but you never think you’re going to use that many. But with the rainouts this year, you never know. They’ve all stepped up.&uot;

Jones had just a little jam in the third when the Bears (3-6, 1-2) scored their two runs. Jones walked three in that inning, and two came around to score. But he got mostly groundouts after that, and Daniel Allen’s flyout to center ended the game.

&uot;He kind of had us handcuffed at the plate,&uot; West Lincoln head coach Andrew Redd said. &uot;He did a real good job. We didn’t hit the ball well and really struggled at the plate. Our outfield has been kind of down. We’ve got an entirely new outfield, and we’ve been struggling.&uot;

Jones started off solid with four strikeouts after he came with a combination of pitches to keep the Bears off balance. But he went more with the fastball later in the game and had success moving it around the plate.

&uot;The main thing was staying in front of the batters, which was what he did tonight,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;He’s going to play shortstop tomorrow, and I didn’t want him throwing too many breaking pitches and have him sore for tomorrow. I tried to get him to stay away from that when we got the big lead.&uot;

The Green Wave (12-3, 3-0) took the big lead in the second inning thanks to a seven-run inning when it sent 12 batters to the plate. Chris Norris singled in two runs for a 3-0 lead, and Jones singled him home right after that. Rodney Daggett singled home another run for a 8-0 lead.

After the Bears cut it to 8-2, the Green Wave got a single from Te Riley to score Norris and Jones for a 10-2 off West Lincoln starter Jeremy Branning, who stayed on the mound despite giving up 14 hits.

&uot;Cathedral really teed off and hit the ball in the gaps,&uot; Redd said. &uot;They probably hit the ball better than anybody we’ve seen. We’ve got a tough game tomorrow and another one Friday. We just wanted to make sure we have everybody ready to go. We wanted to use our No. 1 and 2 starters for later in the week. Jeremy does a good job, but he gives up a lot of hits.&uot;

The Green Wave tacked on five runs in the fourth of Branning to enact the 10-run rule.