Cathedral must get past 1A favorites to advance to state title series

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, May 7, 2008

NATCHEZ — The Cathedral baseball team is getting used to the Golden Triangle area of Mississippi.

For the second time in the Class 1A South State playoffs, the Green Wave will travel up to the Starkville and Columbus area to face off against an opponent.

The Wave disposed of West Lowndes in the first round and now will face East Webster in the South State finals.

Game 1 of the three-game series will be Thursday at Chester Willis field while Game 2 will be in Maben, located about 20 miles west of Starkville, on Friday.

An if-necessary Game 3 would be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at Canton Academy.

Game times for the first two games have not been set, but they will most likely begin at 5 p.m.

“We went about 20 miles east of Starkville for the second round and now we’re going about 20 miles west of Starkville for this round,” Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said. “We’ve made some long trips in the playoffs.”

After playing the maximum three games in each of the first two playoffs series, the Green Wave were able to sweep Stringer in the South State semifinals, which allows them to set up their pitching rotation the way they would like it for the finals.

“It was important to win on Monday because it let us get our pitching rotation back online,” Beesley said. “Preston Edwards will pitch in Game 1 with Daniel Jenkins pitching Game 2 and Aaron White pitching in Game 3, if necessary.”

Cathedral (23-5) has played a lot of close games in these playoffs. Each of their last three wins have been by one run.

Beesley thinks that will help his team as they advance farther into the playoffs.

“I think the key now is keeping the games close,” Beesley said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games and won them. If we’re close in the sixth and seventh innings, we feel that we are going to win the game.”

And Cathedral will need all the confidence they can get against Class 1A powerhouse East Webster.

The Wolverines are the favorites to win the championship, and have not lost a game in the playoffs thus far.

“We faced the best hitter in Class 1A in the second round and then we faced the best pitcher in 1A in the third round, now we’re facing the best team in the fourth round,” Beesley said. “Everyone in the lineup can hit the ball and they have three good pitchers. It’s going to be a challenge for us to compete with them. We’ve got to keep it close and then take advantage of the breaks we get.”

Beesley said the key for Cathedral to win will be have great pitching and play good defense.

“We know they’re going to put the ball in play,” Beesley said. “There is no sure out in their lineup. They hit seven home runs in two games in their last series against St. Aloysius. We can’t give them free bases. Walks and errors will come back to haunt us. We’ve got to be at the top of our game.”