BRANDON — With a playoff matchup looming, the Cathedral Green Wave looked to fine-tune their game Friday night in a road test against 6A foe Northwest Rankin.

Cathedral fell 5-0, but considering the Cougars entered the matchup 23-2 overall and ranked No. 3 in the state of Mississippi, head coach Craig Beesley was happy with what he saw from his team on the diamond.

“I thought we played a good game,” Beesley said. “We were a little overmatched with their pitching, but that is a good staff they have over there. We competed and had them at 1-0 in the fifth and a hit here or there, we could’ve tied it up. But this was something we wanted to do going into the playoffs.”

Cathedral threw their whole staff against the Cougars and Beesley said they put up a solid performance.

Quinton Logan started the game and went two innings, giving up no hits and striking out three. Gabe Smith, Sam Parker and Pate Shirley followed in relief.

At the plate, Cathedral was able to scratch across four hits, led by two singles from Craig Bradley. Jacob Jenkins and Logan also added a single each.

Now, the Green Wave turn their attention to Resurrection, who they will be facing in the playoffs, and Beesley said he feels good heading into the series.

“You never know what is going to happen,” he said. “You could face a good pitcher here or there, but right now, we are playing good baseball.”

Cathedral will host Resurrection Tuesday and then hit the road Thursday in game two of the series. If a third game is needed, it will be played in Natchez.