MONTEREY &8212; You didn&8217;t need seven innings to figure out what&8217;s going good, bad and in-between for Cathedral&8217;s baseball team right now.

At one point pitching and hitting is up. Then both came down. Then the defense had its struggles. But when the Wave left Monterey an 18-8 winner over the error-plagued Wolves, it was a six-inning that they could use to stay unbeaten so far but nothing that made anyone glow with pride.

But don&8217;t sweat. It&8217;s still early March. These things often work themselves out.

&8220;We were hoping we could get that one over in five innings,&8221; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &8220;We&8217;re still looking for that No. 2 pitcher. We didn&8217;t have the same intensity and focus we had last night (at St. Al). That was a big win last night, and it seemed like we left some of our intensity in Vicksburg.&8221;

Ditto for the Wolves, who committed 11 errors in the contest after playing well over the weekend at the Downsville tournament. Errors allowed the Green Wave to put up 11 runs in the second inning and lead 13-3 after three innings.

Errors weren&8217;t a problem over the weekend, leaving MHS head coach Hank Zizzi to ponder if his club left something over the weekend as well.

&8220;We weren&8217;t mentally ready to play,&8221; Zizzi said. &8220;Our heads were not in this ball game at all. At Downsville, we played three games and played good defense and hit the ball. I think Beau (Shively) pitched well and Billy (Metcalf) pitched well, but there&8217;s no way on God&8217;s green earth that you can give Cathedral High School nine outs in an inning and expect to beat them. They&8217;re too good of a team.&8221;

Things got ugly in a hurry for Monterey in that second inning thanks to six errors, but it got nearly as bad for Cathedral in the fifth when its pitchers walked six batters &8212; three to force in runs &8212; to keep the game from ending in five innings.

The Wolves scored five runs in one hit in the fifth to cut the deficit to 14-8, but the Wave got four more in the sixth to end it. The Green Wave came with Alex Middleton and Zack Calhoun on the mound after Charlie Lane started and pitched two innings.

Calhoun walked the leadoff batter in the sixth before getting the next three batters to strike out to end the game.

&8220;There&8217;s a dropoff from Patrick (McDonough) throwing to everybody else control-wise,&8221; Beesley said. &8220;(Calhoun) threw a lot better in his second inning. I didn&8217;t want to bring him in there with runners on in the fifth, but he got us out of that fifth and did a lot better in the sixth. We were trying to hold him until Thursday, but we may have to switch something around for the Vidalia tournament.&8221;

Credit the Wolves for not rolling over after surrendering the 11-run inning with their five-run fifth. Matt Shively singled in Layton Strebeck after he reached base on an error, and the Wolves scored runs on bases-loaded walks to Jon Lipsey, Tyler Per/ and Strebeck.

But the Green Wave got four in the sixth off sidearmer Gary Evans on only one hit &8212; a bunt single courtesy of Braxton Fondren &8212; thanks to two errors and two wild pitches.

But Evans got the last three batters to strike out to end the inning.

&8220;I do like the fact that we fought back,&8221; Zizzi said. &8220;We did not give up. Gary and Matt (Shively) both have done a real good job. We&8217;re breaking them in slow and letting them work themselves in shape. They just got through throwing, and that&8217;s why we pitched the way we did tonight.&8221;

The Green Wave, who juggled its lineup with the absence of leadoff hitter Jesse Morrison, got a big boost from McDonough in the second when he deposited a pitch over the fence in left center for a three-run homer.

Kole Junkin had the first key hit of the inning when he singled in McDonough and Calhoun for the first two runs of the inning. Preston Edwards&8217; infield single scored Daniel Jenkins for a 4-0 lead.

&8220;We&8217;re still juggling the lineup,&8221; Beesley said. &8220;We put Preston Edwards in the leadoff spot, and he&8217;s done a good job for us. He put the ball in play. We&8217;re still looking for somebody to step up. When Patrick gets hot, he gets hot. He did swing a good bat for us. Hopefully he can stay hot for us.&8221;