BROOKHAVEN &045; Rain suspended play in the third inning with the Natchez Americans trailing 6-3 against the Brookhaven Americans Friday night.

The game will resume at 2 p.m. today at the North sub-district coach-pitch tournament. Rains moved through Lincoln County Friday night with the Americans on the verge of being a game away from playing for the championship game.

The ball spun without being thrown on the pitching machine, forcing a rain suspension.

&uot;This second game is killing us because we’re tired. The drive over here and then playing a tough game, it’s hard to keep the kids pumped up, so this rain is a blessing in disguise. But I’ll tell you, if they say get out there, our kids will get out there and play.&uot;

Natchez advanced to the game against the Brookhaven Americans with a 17-14 win over the Natchez Nationals in the first game Friday night.

In the second game, Brookhaven jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Caleb Yarborough and Alex Smith led off with consecutive singles. Yarborough came home on Alex Neal’s single and Smith and Neal scored on Dennon Thornhill’s double. Thornhill eventually came in on Collin Hurt’s double.

Brookhaven added two more runs in the second. Cory Alderman and Brantley Bell both singled and scored on Hayden Brownlee’s double.

Natchez didn’t score until the third inning, when Skeeter Myles led off with a single. Chisum Mardis singled him over for Kolbi Robinson, who drove both in with a double. Edwin Byrne singled in Robinson just before play was suspended during the second of two showers that hit the field.

&uot;I wanted to finish this tonight,&uot; Brookhaven coach Winky Smith said. &uot;I felt like we were hitting the ball well. Our defense got a little sloppy there, but that might have been the rain. But overall, I felt good.&uot;

Natchez Americans 17, Natchez Nationals 14

BROOKHAVEN &045; If the first game of the tournament Friday felt eerily familiar, it’s no wonder. The Natchez Nationals and Natchez Americans faced off for the fourth time in four days.

But unlike their three meetings earlier in the week, this one was a nail-biter.

The Americans retook the lead in the fifth inning with a four runs and held on defensively against the Nationals to win.

&uot;It was a close one and could have gone either way. Both of us brought our big bats tonight,&uot; Hewitt said. &uot;It’s our rival team, but I hated that. We bonded together, and then you have to play. It’s a weird thing.&uot;

The excitement really got going in the fourth with the Americans already leading 8-5.

Jardarius Anderson doubled in the fourth for the Americans and scored on Kolbi Robinson’s double. Edwin Byrne and Philip Tyra had back-to-back singles to load the bases for Matthew Simmons, who tripled to drive all three in. Simmons scored on Alan Doyle’s ground out, making it a 13-5 game.

The Nationals’ Bradley Jones singled to lead off the fourth and came in on James Coley’s single. Andrew Beesley came up with the bases loaded and singled to drive in Kenneth Jordan. Jeremy Myles singled to drive in Coley.

Cameron Farmer reached on a fielder’s choice, and he and Myles scored on Landon Seyfarth’s single. Trey Fleming knocked in Seyfarth with a single and came in on Quinn Logan’s triple, tying the game at 13-13. Logan then scored on Mark Iles’ single to take the lead for the Nationals.

The Americans won the game in the fifth, scoring four runs to retake the lead for good. Jenkins led off with a single, moved over on Pete Guedon’s single and scored on Skeeter Myles’ hit. Guedon, Myles and Jacob Jenkins all scored later in the innings on a pair of groundouts and a single by Anderson to make the score 17-14.

The Nationals couldn’t answer in their half of the inning, getting two ground outs and a flyout sandwiched around Austin Waite’s single without scoring a run.

Nationals coach Billy Ray Farmer said his team’s defense was to blame for the loss.

&uot;We just didn’t play any defense,&uot; Farmer said. &uot;They could have, should have beat us by 20 runs.&uot;