NATCHEZ — Wilkinson County Christian Academy’s Hutch Holden tossed a shutout and scored three runs to help lift his squad to a 15-0 win over Trinity Episcopal in district openers for both squads Monday.

“This is real big,” Holden said. “We have a lot of good teams in our district this year, so it’s good to come out and get the first district win.”

Holden managed to strike out 10 batters in his strong outing, allowing just one hit.

“I couldn’t ask for a better player,” WCCA coach Mac Newcomb said. “He does what you ask him to do, and he tries hard.”

Despite the high number of strikeouts, Holden said his ability to perform at a high level was due to his teammates.

“We had a good defense behind me,” Holden said.

WCCA tallied 11 hits in the game and scored four runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings.

The Rams cracked the scoreboard first with three runs in the second.

WCCA then busted the game open with a four-run fourth.

Bennett Vannoy led the hitting barrage at the plate as he tallied two hits, including a double, and drove in three runs.

“We came out and did what we needed to do to win the game,” Newcomb said. “I know they’re young … but we can’t take anyone for granted.”

The Rams received strong contributions up and down the lineup as nine separate hitters managed to record at least one hit in its runaway win.

“We’ve been practicing real well,” Holden said. “I felt like we came out and hit the ball real well (Monday).”

Kevontaye Caston recorded the lone hit for Trinity in the bottom of the first.

“They had a good pitcher, and we knew he was going to be tough to hit,” Trinity coach Elliot Meng said. “But we came out flat, and our attitudes were bad. We’ve got to come prepared and want to play.”

The two teams have a quick turnaround as they are slated to meet again at 6 p.m. today at WCCA.

“They need to go home and do some soul searching,” Meng said. “We need to get better as a team. They’ve got to come out here wanting to play baseball and compete the whole time.”