HAZLEHURST — Despite being behind early, the Natchez 11-year-old All-Stars used timely triples to defeat Wesson Tuesday night 7-5.

Down 5-3 in the fourth inning, Peyton Laird and Lester Wells led-off the inning with back-to-back triples. Kaleb Watts then hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Wells to tie the game.

“We were pretty flat until that happened,” Natchez coach Billy Ray Farmer said. “We were just down in the dugout.”

In the fifth inning Natchez struck again.

After Christian Jenkins walked and Trey Fleming reached base, a Thomas Garrity triple barely over the center fielder’s outstretched mitt easily cleared the bases. The runs put Natchez ahead 7-5.

Quinn remained in the game at pitcher in the sixth, striking out the batters in order to close the game and preserve the Natchez victory.

“This is the first time we’ve been behind a lot,” Farmer said. “We’ve pretty much dominated everyone. It was good to see them have the heart to come back and win it.”

On the pitcher’s mound, Wells had an off-night for Natchez, allowing Wesson to take a premature 5-1 lead in the first two innings.

“(Wells) walked a few and they got two doubles on him and they quickly were up 5-1,” Farmer said.

Half-way through the second Farmer opted to make a pitching change and put Quinn Logan on the pitchers mound.

The change paid off for Natchez, as they began to mount their comeback.

“(Quinn) came in and shut them down and we slowly crawled back into the game.”

The victory sends Natchez to the district tournament. Their first game will be at 6 p.m. Thursday against McComb in McComb.

“McComb should be a better team than what we’ve seen, but we’re looking forward to it,” Farmer said.

Game two will be at Duncan Park on Saturday, and if a third game is needed the location will be determined by a coin-toss.