NATCHEZ &045; Things weren’t supposed to start out this way.

Granted, the Natchez High Bulldogs

have just one division win to their credit in the last two years, but this year is different. The Bulldogs have a number of experienced seniors, have played well at times this season and were really focused on starting off Division 6-5A Tuesday night.

The Gators walked away 10-1 winners, and NHS head coach Charlie Williams isn’t going to stand for it.

&uot;We’re going back to the drawing board to see what we need to do,&uot; said Williams, in his second season as head coach. &uot;Not taking anything away from (Vicksburg), but I feel we were the better ball club. But they made the plays when they had to, and we didn’t. We’ll have to change the way we practice. I’ve been too nice.&uot;

The final line was cause for Williams to scrap just about everything the Bulldogs have done up until Tuesday &045; they had one hit, committed seven errors, walked seven and hit four. The Gators had just three hits, but the Bulldogs didn’t get a hit until Jeremiah Green’s infield fly in the seventh inning fell between the pitcher and first baseman with neither making a play on it.

And it wasn’t without a bad inning. The Gators got five runs in the third inning on just one hit and four Natchez errors.

&uot;Mental &045; it’s all mental,&uot; Williams said.&160;&uot;We’re not focusing like we’re supposed to be doing. We let this game get away from us. That’s the bad part &045; 0-1 (in division). I could see if they were that much better than us, but they weren’t. I’m at a loss for what we need to do. Once I think things are going right, it backfires. I just don’t know.&uot;

The Gators kept Natchez High struggling at the plate with three pitchers they threw over the course of the game. Steven Price started and went two innings, left-hander John Hendricks went four and Drew Smith finished out the seventh.

The three combined to strike out six, walk three and hit three. The Gators will gladly take it after scheduled starter James Jackson didn’t throw a pitch.

&uot;There were a couple of scouts in to see him tonight, and he had a little tightness in his shoulder,&uot;&160;VHS head coach Jamie Creel said.&160;&uot;We had to make a change and piece it together as best we could. We brought in our left-hander that pitched on Friday, and we brought John in who pitched on Saturday. And he was about as effective as any pitcher since I’ve been here.&uot;

The Gators got five runs across in the third inning off NHS starter Drew Kossum to take the quick lead. Heath Daigre reached on an error and scored on an error, Tanner Woodson walked and scored on an error, Hampton Larkin scored on an error, Jackson singled in Jordan Henry and Jackson scored on a passed ball for the 5-0 lead.

In the fifth the Gators goit three more on Kossum before he exited for reliever Matt Henderson. Tyler Wells scored on a wild pitch, Jackson scored all the way from first on Blake Tidwell’s single and Tidwell scored on a passed ball for the 8-0 lead.

&uot;We got some key hits,&uot; Creel said.&160;&uot;We got some key hits with runners in scoring position, and that’s what you’ve got to have to win ball games. We didn’t get much out of our (Nos.) 2 and 3 hitters, but everybody else picked up the slack for them.&uot;

The Bulldogs put a run across in the sixth inning off Hendricks without a hit thanks to an error when Henderson walked, went to second on a passed ball and came around on a throwing error.

But what could have made a difference were the first two innings where they missed opportunities to score. In the first, Aaron Ratliff got thrown out at home on a double steal with Keymond Williams running from first for the first out of the inning.

In the second, the Bulldogs had the bases loaded with no outs before Price struck out the next three batters to end the threat.

&uot;That was the killer,&uot; Williams siad. &uot;You can’t beat a junior high team not hitting the ball against that. If we would have put it in play, we probably could have scored two runs. If we would have scored, we might have rattled them.&uot;