NATCHEZ — If Quinton Logan had two strikes on an opposing batter, you could almost guarantee what was coming next.

“Two strikes on the batter, I just tried to blow it right past ‘em,” said Logan, who is The Natchez Democrat’s 2015 All-Metro Player of the Year.

Logan brought the heat in 2015, earning 100 strikeouts en route to a 9-0 record and .94 ERA. But as dominant as Logan was this season, the start of his senior season didn’t go as planned. In his first home game with the Cathedral baseball team, after transferring from Trinity Episcopal Day School last summer, Logan faced a dangerous Franklin County lineup. The jitters got the best of Logan, as he walked eight batters and allowed three runs in two and a third innings pitched. Discouraged, Logan hung his head after the game, after his debut at home was far from ideal. However, the support he received after the game gave him a renewed confidence he’d carry the rest of the season.

“Parents were telling me, ‘Calm down, we know what you can do,’” Logan said. “After all of that happened, I knew everybody was behind me, and it gave me confidence. You could put it like I was in my zone.”

Saying Logan was in his zone might be putting it mildly, as the senior left-hander struck out 49 batters in the next 19 innings pitched, averaging more than two strikeouts an inning. Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said once Logan found his comfort zone on the mound and with the team, he dominated games as a starter.

“At first, I think he was trying to press a little bit too much,” Beesley said. “It’s just amazing how good of a kid and athlete he is. He was a little shocked at the amount of work we put into all of our sports. We take it pretty serious, and he liked that. He took to Cathedral, and we took to him.”Logan��s momentum was halted in a district championship game against St. Aloysius. With a win, Cathedral would clinch district, and after two innings pitched, Logan felt discomfort, which would later be diagnosed as tendinitis. “In the third inning, my arm felt numb,” Logan said.

Logan came out of the game in the Green Wave victory, and rested the next 10 games. After McAdams forfeited the opening round of the playoffs to Cathedral, Beesley scheduled a game with Northwest Ranking, the No. 3 ranked school in the state at the time. Logan made his return to the mound in the 5-0 loss to the 6A foe, pitching two innings, striking out three and giving up no earned runs.

“It was always amazing to watch him pitch because we never had a guy who could throw upper 80s, low 90s,” Beesley said. “The Northwest Rankin game was the game that I was really impressed. He hit 91 in that game, and that was after he was dealing with the arm injury. It was great to see that because we had the playoffs coming up.”

And with Logan back to form in the playoffs, Cathedral took a 1-0 advantage in every series with Logan starting Game 1. As good as Logan’s arm was all season, his bat was equally impressive. Logan led the team with 10 home runs to go along with his .402 batting average. One home run in particular stood out to Logan, though, as it came in a south state win against Stringer. With a 6-4 lead in the fourth inning, Logan had a 3-2 count, and both he and third base coach Ron Rushing knew what was coming next — the curveball.

“I shook my head at Coach,” Logan said. “And I made him pay for it.”

Logan’s home run to center all but sealed the win for Cathedral, punching a ticket to the state championship.

Logan might have had an imperfect start to his senior year, but he had a storybook ending, winning a state championship with the Green Wave, remaining perfect in the win and loss column on the mound. Reflecting back, Logan was proud of his accomplishments, but he drew more pride knowing he and his new teammates came together, meshed well and accomplished their mission together.

“I’m not trying to say I transferred to Cathedral for just sports, but that’s why I wanted to come over here, because I knew it was a baseball school,” Logan said. “And I ended up being a good addition to the team. It just felt great, knowing that I was that missing piece.”