NATCHEZ — The Trinity baseball team got a little too close to the danger zone Monday night.

The Saints let a comfortable eight-run lead against rival Centreville slip away in the late innings, and hung on for dear life in a 12-11 win.

Trinity head coach Mitch Ashmore didn’t have many words after the game, but he was noticeably upset that his team allowed the game to get as interesting as it did.

“The only thing I can say is, we were not ready to play,” Ashmore said. “We didn’t play focused and didn’t have the right attitude. There were some plays we could’ve put them away but didn’t, and I’m very disappointed.”

With a 12-4 lead going into the top of the sixth, pitcher Daniel Dunaway suddenly had trouble finding the strike zone. When he did get the ball put in play, the Trinity infield failed to convert on outs, allowing five runs to score that inning.

Dunaway loaded the bases on a walk and two errors, and then walked Randy Bell to score a run. Brad Jelks added another run on an infield single.

Trinity catcher Chase Patrick then let two pitches get away from him, scoring Hunter Travis and Bell. Another run scored after Cliff Hurst reached on an infield single, making the score 12-9 after six.

In the top of the seventh with one out, the Tigers scored two more runs when Zack Sinclair walked and Gage Chandler connected on a two-run home run, cutting the Trinity lead to one.

This prompted Ashmore to bring Givonni Dent in to close. Dent walked the next batter, but got Brad Jelks to pop up and Tyler Towles to ground into a force out to end the game.

Despite the comeback, Centreville coach Jason Horne said his team would have to show more energy than it has the past few games if the Tigers want to make noise in the playoffs.

“We never gave up tonight, but we’re already in the playoffs, and we’ve kind of put it in cruise control of late,” Horne said. “That’s a bad thing to do. We have several practices left, and we’ll see how badly we want it.”

Centreville scored one run in the top of the first, but Trinity responded with six runs of its own.

Neither team would score again in the fourth inning, until the Tigers added three more runs in the top of the fourth. Trinity scored one run in the bottom of the fourth and five in the bottom of the fifth.

Trinity starter Jordan Dossett got the win, going three innings before getting pulled in the fourth. Centreville’s Cliff Hurst took the loss.

Trinity rose to 15-5 on the season, 8-0 in district play. Centreville fell to 16-9, 8-4 on the year.