After building an early lead, Lake held on to defeat Cathedral 6-4 at Chester Willis Field Friday to sweep the first round playoff series.

The Hornets jumped ahead 4-0 in the top of the first inning after Sam Wooten hit a sacrifice to first base to score one run, and Lake starting pitcher Colton Mitchell added a second with an RBI double. Two more runs crossed the plate on a passed ball that followed a Dwayne Gammage strike out.

“They had a big first inning, and we were playing from behind the whole day,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said.

The Hornets added their fifth run to the scoreboard in the top of the third inning after Mitchell tripled and a sacrifice fly by Markus Ricks drove him in.

But in the bottom of the third, Cathedral got one run back when Wooten, Lake’s catcher, overthrew third base trying to pick off Jesse Morrison who subsequently scored. A second run later walked in when Mitchell was called for a baulk after he used his throwing hand to wipe sweat off his forehead.

The Green Wave cut the lead to two in the bottom of the fourth inning when Cathedral right fielder Caleb Johnson led off the inning with an inside the park home run.

But the Hornets quickly got the run back in the top of the following inning when Ricks hit a ground rule double to drive in Cody Everett. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Green Wave once again came within two when a Patrick McDonough sacrifice fly scored Morrison, who led off the inning with a stand up triple.

The Green Wave failed to score any runs in the bottom of the sixth and left two runners stranded on base. They then went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh to end the season with an overall record of 19-7.

“I was more pleased with our effort today. We showed up and played baseball,” Beesley said.

The Green Wave lost the first game of the series 8-1 Thursday at Lake. After a solid start to the season, Beesley said his team hit a slump at the plate in the final three weeks of the season.

“This was a scrappy team. We didn’t have the hitting we normally do, but we had solid pitching through out the season,” he said.

“Hopefully we can build off what we did this year. We can’t be satisfied with what we have done. We must get better.”