NATCHEZ &8212; This one sure didn&8217;t have a summer ball feel to it. The older players knew what was at stake, and the younger ones may have been nervous.

But Braxton Fondren may still be smiling this morning.

The junior-to-be got a pitch up in the zone and parked it over the fence in left to boost the Natchez Green Wave to an 8-4 win over the Natchez Saints in four innings during the opening night of the Saints&8217; tournament at Chester Willis Field.

It was the opener everyone wanted to see. And Fondren got the first home run of the summer &8212; also the first of his life, even going back to his Dixie Youth days at Duncan Park.

&8220;I&8217;ve never been a home run hitter,&8221; Fondren said. &8220;It felt real good. (I thought it was) a pop-up, but it went. Once I got to first base, I saw it. They weren&8217;t expecting it (in the dugout). Nobody was. I wasn&8217;t, either.&8221;

It was enough to give life to a Green Wave lineup that was dotted with new faces to start the summer. Patrick McDonough is the only senior-to-be out this summer, and his time will be shared with the Miss-Lou Select.

That leaves players like Fondren, Jesse Morrison and Preston Edwards &8212; freshmen and sophomores during the season for the Wave &8212; now in roles of carrying more responsibilities in preparation for next year.

That may be OK for now. Fondren got a pitch up and in a bit from hard-thrower Stevan Ridley and put it over in left for a two-run homer. It highlighted a four-run third buoyed by newcomers in the bottom of the lineup to erase a 1-0 deficit.

&8220;It looked like he got one up in the zone and got good metal on it,&8221; Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said. &8220;It was a good shot. We knew it was gone when he hit it. He hit well right before the season was over, and maybe it&8217;s carrying over.&8221;

&8220;We had eighth-graders in the second inning get the first two RBI of the summer. They stepped up against someone like Ridley, and he was bringing it pretty good.&8221;

The Green Wave had three freshmen-to-be at the bottom of the line in the absence of Kole Junkin and David Ozburn, two regulars from the spring who aren&8217;t playing this summer. Caleb Johnson&8217;s groundout to short got the first run in, and Hunter Foster&8217;s grounder drew an error to get another run home.

Ridley, who got all his outs on strikeouts in the first, then fell behind in the count to Fondren. The regular second baseman who started in center put a 2-1 pitch over the fence for a 4-1 lead.

&8220;I was just frustrated because I kept watching pitches,&8221; Fondren said after his first at-bat, a strikeout looking. &8220;(Ridley) was bringing it pretty good, but it wasn&8217;t something we haven&8217;t seen before. The first time up I didn&8217;t swing, and the next time up I was going to make up for it.&8221;

The four runs were enough for Saints head coach Matt Mason to get Ridley out of there, although the goal coming in was to pitch by committee. The Saints threw Parker Brumfield in the third and Kolby Godfrey in the fourth, and both had to endure mistakes behind them at times.

Two errors in the fourth allowed the Green Wave to put up three runs after the Saints trimmed the lead to 5-4 in the third.

&8220;The bottom line is it&8217;s a summer league game, but for most people it was a big game because it was us and Cathedral,&8221; Mason said. &8220;We&8217;ve got some guys not ready to play in a situation like that, and we&8217;ve got some guys who should have stepped up in a game like that and didn&8217;t do it.

&8220;Stevan had too many three-ball counts on batters. He struggled a little bit, and that&8217;s the first time he&8217;s thrown live since the season.&8221;

The Green Wave didn&8217;t have the same effect with Patrick McDonough on the mound, a move Beesley said was to get him some work in since he likely won&8217;t return today or Sunday. The Saints got three in the third with two coming on a single from Wells Middleton, but McDonough allowed only five hits and struck out nine.

The pitching rotation today could go to committee. Outside of McDonough, the only non-senior to throw for the Green Wave in the spring was Fondren &8212; who had one relief appearance.

&8220;I didn&8217;t think he&8217;d be with us this weekend,&8221; Beesley said of McDonough. &8220;Right now now we&8217;re trying to get him to stay. But we&8217;ve got 14 kids who committed to stay, and we&8217;re going to work with those 14.&8221;