MAGEE — With Hattiesburg on the comeback trail, Natchez 11-year-old All-Stars coach Terry Moffett had to bring in Christopher White earlier in the game than he wanted to.

Yet the move to bring in White for Edwin Byrne paid off as White put a stop to Hattiesburg’s attempted rally as Natchez held on for an 11-6 win Friday night in the first round of the Mississippi Dixie Youth South State Tournament.

Thanks to eight hits in the bottom of the first inning, Natchez jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and by the end of the third inning was ahead 10-2 and thought to be on its way to 10-run ruling Hattiesburg.

“We came out and put the hits back-to-back. We just got some timely hits, especially in the first inning.” Moffett said. “We kept knocking it around. Darrick Lewis had a double and that scored two runs.”

Byrne, who pitched the middle two innings and had already given up one run in the top of the third inning, was roughed by Hattiesburg as it scored three runs in the top of the fourth to make it a 10-5 ball game. That’s when Moffett had seen enough and brought in White.

“Edwin was kind of shaky. The mound was muddy. It rained a little bit up here,” Moffett said. “We had to bring Christopher in to account for that one inning. He kind of put the fire out.”

Byrne got back one run on an RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth. Hattiesburg scored one run in the top of the fifth, but White held the visiting team in this game scoreless in the top of the sixth.

Tyler Wilson was the starting and winning pitcher for Natchez. He allowed just one run on two hits, struck out three, walked two and hit one batter.

“Tyler did a good job coming in the first two innings,” Moffett said.

After each team scored one run in the second inning, Hattiesburg scored one run in the top of the third, but Natchez responded with three runs in the bottom of the third.

Hattiesburg got home runs from Zarrius Holloman and Chris Cooley while Kyle Coleman was the only multiple hitter for either team as he went 3-for-3.

The Natchez 12-year-old All-Stars will take on the winner of the Wesson-Moss Point game today at 8 p.m.