NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School utilized seven strong innings from starter Gabe Smith, topping Adams County Chrisitan School 4-3 and improving to 4-1 in district play Thursday night.

Smith faced the minimum amount of batters in six of his seven innings, allowing four hits with five strikeouts.

“My fastball felt good coming out of my hand, and I was comfortable on the mound,” Smith said. “I was getting good push off of my back leg, keeping the ball down for the most part.”

Smith allowed a runner on base in just two innings. The Rebels’ Brady Bean had a base hit in the first, but was called for the third out after leaving third base too early after tagging on a fly ball.

The bats were silent for Cathedral Thursday, but the Green Wave didn’t need them for most of the first two innings.

ACCS pitcher Tyler Wilson walked 10 Cathedral batters in six innings. With the bases loaded in the first inning, Cathedral’s Pate Shirley hit a two-RBI single to give Cathedral an early 2-0 lead. Wilson walked in a run with the bases loaded before inducing Smith to ground out to end the inning.

Wilson walked three more Green Wave batters in the second inning, but the lone run came on a play with two throwing errors that allowed Craig Bradley to score from first base.

“I’d like to see a lot more strikes,” ACCS coach Matthew Freeman said. “That (walks) turn into runs. We lost by one run and those walks could have been the difference. You never know.”

Cathedral couldn’t move runners over after the second inning. The Green Wave left nine runners on base. Cathedral’s final hit came from Andrew Beesley in the third inning, but the rally was cut short when ACCS caught courtesy runner Ben Foster in a run down to end the threat.

“We didn’t do a good job of hitting the ball where it was pitched,” Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said. “We have kids trying to pull the ball all over the field, and we didn’t make adjustments at the plate.”

ACCS was down 4-0 in the fourth inning when it sprung for three runs off Smith. The Green Wave starter said he left a fastball up in the zone when Rebels’ catcher Chris White smacked an RBI single, scoring Devin Grey from second base. Then Wilson jumped on a breaking ball for an RBI double that scored Cole Gatlin. Wilson later scored on a fielder’s choice, trimming the deficit to one, 4-3.

“We always struggle our first time through the lineup,” Freeman said. “I have some good hitters throughout my lineup, but for some reason they hit the ball better the second time through the lineup. I wasn’t shocked we started hitting the ball there.”

Adams County was unable to get on base after the fourth inning, but several hitters managed to hit the ball hard off Smith.

With two outs in the sixth inning, White laced a hanging pitch off Smith to deep left field, but Cathedral left fielder Brock Farmer made a basket catch, facing the fence to end the inning.

“That was a big play,” Smith said. “I told myself, ‘I’ve know (White) to hit that ball a long way if I leave that ball up on him.’ I got him 2-2 (in the count), and I tried to keep the ball down but left it belt-high. Brock made a great play.”

Grey, Bean and White were all 1-for-3 for ACCS with. Wilson recorded the lone extra base hit for the Rebels.

Cathedral had just two hits in the game. Shirley was 1-for-2 with a single and a walk, while Beesley was 1-for-3 with a single, walk and run-scored.

The home-and-away series will continue at ACCS Monday. Adams County falls 1-2 in District 4-AAA.

Cathedral is riding a two-game winning streak after beating Simpson Academy at home Monday.