NATCHEZ — With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and runners on second and third, Cathedral School starter Tyler Morrison wanted to help his own cause Friday evening.

With Cathedral trailing Nanih Waiya High School 10-8, Morrison represented the winning run, and a base hit would likely have at least tied the game and sent it the game into extra innings.

But Morrison lined out to Warriors second baseman Jeffrey Hemphill, and the Warriors managed to take Game 1 from the Green Wave in the third round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

The Achilles heel for Cathedral was a four-run top of the sixth when the Green Wave got two quick outs to start the inning, then fell apart, yielding four runs to the Warriors.

“I was a little disappointed in the way we came out and played,” Green Wave baseball coach Craig Beesley said.

“That top of the sixth really got to us. They scored all those runs (after) two outs and no runners on base. After the first two outs, we hit the next two batters and walked the third one, then they strung together three to four hits back-to-back.”

Cathedral was trailing just 6-3 at the time, but a bloop single by Dominique Carter brought home Hemphill and Devain McQueen. Stewart Ball then laced a double that scored two more runs, making it 10-3 Nanih Waiya.

Cathedral was finally able to get to Warriors starter Colby Eaves in the final two innings. A triple by Austin Chauvin brought home Collin Hammons and Blake Martin, cutting the Warriors’ lead to 10-5. Then, Morrison drove Chauvin in from third on a sacrifice fly, making it 10-6.

After a scoreless top of the seventh, Cathedral cut the Warrior lead to two when Hammons doubled in Caleb Upton and Martin scored Barry Young on an infield single.

But the deficit proved too much for Cathedral to overcome, as Eaves buckled down and got the final two outs.

Morrison went all seven innings, giving up 10 runs on nine hits. Beesley said he didn’t think all the runs were Morrison’s fault alone, however, as the Green Wave committed three errors behind him.

“They did a good job hitting with two strikes and staying back on his curve,” Beesley said. “I felt like we could have made plays to help him out, but you’ve got to give them credit, they hit well.”

Cathedral scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first when Kyle Bradley came home on a passed ball.

Nanih Waiya answered with three runs in the top of the second. Tanner Dalton came home on a single by Zach Hanna, and two more runs scored on a ground ball by Hunter Luke that bounced off Bradley at second base an into center field.

The Warriors made it 4-1 in the top of the third when Hanna Drove in Carter on a single. Daniel Huffines responded for Cathedral with an RBI double in the bottom of the third that scored Bradley.

Nanih Waiya added another run in the top of the fourth, but Thomas Garrity drove in Peyton Jenkins for Cathedral in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-3 after four.

Carter scored on a fielder’s choice for the Warriors in the top of the fifth to make it 6-3.

“We looked like we weren’t focused and concentrating during the first part of the game,” Beesley said of his team’s hitting.

“(Eaves) was effectively wild. We swung at a lot of bad pitches, pitches that were high in the zone, which made for easy outs.”

Cathedral (16-6) will play at Nanih Waiya today.