Wave roll over Crusaders

Published 1:45 am Saturday, February 28, 2009

NATCHEZ — There wasn’t much to say after Cathedral’s 10-0, 14-1 victories over Sacred Heart in Friday’s doubleheader.

Thanks to a less-than-commanding performance on the mound by the Crusaders, only two Green Wave runs in the second game of the night were batted in — the rest were wild pitches or pass balls. The second game lasted just three innings.

Cathedral had four hits on the night and left five on. Collin Hammons, the only multiple hitter in the second game, had a double, as did Tyler Ballard, and Cole Mann threw seven strikeouts with two walks as the winning pitcher.

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The Crusaders’ young team has just one junior, no seniors, and nearly all seventh, eighth and ninth graders.

“They’re a new school, and they’ve added a grade each year, so they’re just now getting to the high school ages,” said Cathedral coach Craig Beesley of Sacred Heart. “They work hard and they try hard; it’s just a big difference between a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old.”

Sacred Heart’s one run in the second game came when Blake Moore walked to lead the bottom of the first, stole second base and reached third on a pass ball. He scored on a error by catcher Kole Junkin, whose throw to third base sailed past the bag.

David Lawrence hit a triple in that inning as well but was stranded at third.

Cathedral had 14 at-bats in the first inning and another 11 in the second.

“The good thing is we got a lot of people to play today,” Beesley said. “We played all 20 kinds today — they all got at-bats and got some defense in.

“We didn’t get to use as many pitchers as I wanted to because I was going to move some guys around thinking we were going to go seven innings, but the game was shortened.”

The first game was short as well. The two teams played five innings, with Cathedral scoring 10 runs on 11 hits.

Aaron White threw an eight-strikeout no-hitter, walking three.

Preston Edwards, Kole Junkin, Tyler Ballard and Daniel Jenkins all went 2-3 in the first game and all hit doubles. Rudy Lazarus also hit a two-bagger.

The Green Wave (4-0, 2-0) will play another doubleheader against Resurrection at 2 and 4 p.m. tomorrow.

“Hopefully we’ll get our concentration and our focus back here tomorrow, and hopefully we can get two more wins tomorrow,” Beesley said. “These are all district games we’re playing this weekend. If we can do well tomorrow and end up 6-0 after this weekend with four district wins, that will be good for us.”