BROOKHAVEN — The Natchez 11-year-old All-Star team didn’t have its best game, but it was more than enough to get past Lincoln Nationals in the first game of the best-of-three district championship series.

Natchez scored four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to pull away late and win 12-3.

“We didn’t play as smoothly as we normally play, but we did what we had to do,” Natchez coach Gary Farmer said. “We played well enough to get a win.”

Sam Parker picked up the win for Natchez, allowing just three runs, with two of those coming in the bottom of the sixth inning with the game already decided.

“Sam pitched an excellent game,” Farmer said. “He had their hitters hitting mostly ground balls. The defense played well too. It was a close game early, but our defense held us in the game along with Sam’s pitching.”

Natchez looked like it would blow the game open early, scoring one run in the top of the first inning and two more in the top of the second.

However, the defense stalled a bit after that and after the fourth inning, Natchez led just 4-1.

However, the next two innings would prove to be huge, as Natchez scored four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a 12-1 lead.

Lincoln Nationals got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth inning, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Jacob Jenkins, Gage Dossett and Cooper Murray each had multiple hits for Natchez, which had 11 total hits in the game.

“We hit sparingly,” Farmer said. “We had 11 hits, but they were spaced out, and we couldn’t get anything really back to back. The field was muddy and it was hard to run on.”

Natchez can now win the district championship with a victory today.

Natchez will host Lincoln Nationals at 7 p.m. at Carroll-Jones Field in Duncan Park, and Farmer is hoping for a large home field advantage.

“Hopefully we can get a big home crowd and wrap it up in front of them,” Farmer said. “Hopefully we’ll come out and hit the ball like Natchez.”