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Cathedral freshman Noah Russ pitched 91 pitches and struck out six Tuesday night against Natchez High School. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Natchez High's Dylan Troxler pitches to Cathedral freshman Jake Hairston. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Cathedral’s Will Mabry makes contact as leadoff batter against Natchez High School. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Cathedral freshman Mason Moore pitched the last 2.1 innings Tuesday night against Natchez High School. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Cathedral freshman Mason Moore threw 68% of strikes against Natchez High on Tuesday night. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Natchez High teammates congratulate Lionell (LJ) Minor on his two-run homer in the seventh inning. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

Natchez High’s Zehlin Cornett scored two runs batted in against Cathedral High on Tuesday night. (Courtesy Bill Barksdale)

By BILL BARKSDALE

Special to The Democrat

NATCHEZ — Natchez High speed and Cathedral errors combined for a 12-0 victory for Natchez High baseball over Cathedral on Tuesday night at Chester Wills Field.

NHS Bulldog Dylan Troxler pitched a complete game, allowing four hits and zero runs over seven innings. Troxler struck out eight.

“I took my time with each pitch and put my mind to it,” said Troxler, who transferred from Vidalia High last year. 

NHS Head Baseball Coach Dan Smith said he was pleased with Troxler’s performance, throwing 112 pitches on the night.

“I’m really proud of Dylan,” Smith said. “Since he has been with us, he has worked so hard to get in shape and he threw hard tonight.”

Meanwhile, Cathedral struggled with eight fielding errors on the night and stranded eight on base.

“Errors hurt us tonight, but we are a young team and five of our starters finished basketball season two weeks ago, so we have some work to do,” said Ethan Lloyd, Cathedral High assistant coach.

Senior Landon Lees was Cathedral’s starting pitcher, but after only two pitches, a line drive struck his hand and broke his knuckle. 

Freshman Noah Russ took the mound and pitched 4.1 innings, followed by Mason Moore pitching 2.2 innings.

“We couldn’t have asked for more from our pitchers, they were excellent tonight,” said Lloyd.

“But once Natchez got on base their speed put them into scoring position quickly.”

Natchez High bats came alive in the latter innings, piling on eight runs in the last three innings.  Lionell (LJ) Minor hit a home run in the seventh inning and scored two runs.

“I didn’t know the ball was out until I rounded second base, because our coach makes us run hard no matter what,” Minor said. “I was waiting all game for him to throw it down the middle, and he finally did.”

Natchez High (5-4) will host Cathedral Green Wave (5-2) at 7 p.m. today at Chester Willis Field. This is the second game this season the two teams are facing each other.

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