Saturday, February 17, 2001

The Natchez Democrat

A frigid night was warmed by the hot bats of Cathedral Saturday

at Chester Willis Field as the Miss-Lou baseball season swung

into action with a 13-9 Green Wave win over Natchez High School.

&uot;I’ll take it for a first game,&uot; said Cathedral coach

Ken Beesley Sr. &uot;We made too many mistakes, but that’s to

be expected.&uot;

Most of those mistakes occurred in the top of the third inning,

when the Wave blew a 3-1 advantage by giving up six runs.

After a Calvin Jackson single, Brock Barlow hit the first of

his three doubles to drive in a run. Brian Kossum then drove in

a run with a double of his own, and later scored on a wild pitch.

A Nolan Coward single was followed by Carl Hayes’ home run.

The Bulldogs’ final run of the inning came when Marques Kinds

made it to the plate after a ground-rule double got him on base.

&uot;We usually don’t score that much,&uot; Barlow said.

&uot;We had good hitting tonight. But our defense stunk.&uot;

Cathedral took a comfortable lead in the bottom of the inning

thanks to a Natchez defensive meltdown in which the Wave scored

eight runs off two hits and two errors.

&uot;I was disappointed with our defense,&uot; said Natchez

coach Michael Lindsey. &uot;I thought coming into tonight defense

would be our strength. The potential is there – maybe they were

just tight.&uot;

Natchez pitchers walked six batters in the third inning – three

walked in for runs.

Both of Cathedral’s hits in the inning were doubles – Ben Eidt’s

drove in Charlie Norris, and Chris Norris’ drove in Charlie Norris

and Key Smith.

&uot;Our defense made a couple mistakes, but overall I’ll

take it,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;There’s plenty of room for

improvement.&uot;

In earlier games at the Cathedral Invitational Tournament,

Cathedral and Franklin County tied 5-5, Vicksburg edged Franklin

County 6-5 and Vicksburg beat Natchez 12-5.

Cathedral next travels to Jena, La., Monday, with the junior

varsity game at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. Natchez

next hosts Brookhaven for two games beginning at 4 p.m.