Meadville — The Natchez Dixie Youth 12-year-old All-Stars took another step toward a north sub-district championship Tuesday night with a 15-4 win over the Lincoln County Americans in Franklin County.

Natchez came to play offensively, coach Gary Farmer said. They pounded out 14 hits in just four innings and won by the ten-run rule.

“We really came out fired up and hitting the baseball,” Farmer said. “We beat a very good Lincoln American team.”

Farmer said everyone in the lineup had a good night at the plate Tuesday.

“We came out and hit through the order,” he said. “One through 12 really hit the ball. The main thing is we worked as a team tonight.”

Zach Flattmann led Natchez offensively. He went 3-for-3 with a double, a three-run home run and a grand slam. Gage Dossett added three hits, Reed White tallied two and Christian Day and Cole Mosby both doubled.

“We played like I know Natchez can play,” Farmer said. “We were solid defensively, had great pitching and great hitting.”

Gabe Smith was the winning pitcher for Natchez. He allowed just one hit in the game.

The Lincoln Americans jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning against Natchez.

Natchez answered with three runs in the second and six in the third to take a 9-1 lead.

The Lincoln Americans scored three in the bottom of the third, then Natchez put up six more in the top of the fourth to secure an eleven-run victory.

Natchez (2-0) will face Franklin County (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. today. The winner will be in great position to win the double-elimination tournament, Farmer said.

“Franklin County is a great, solid team,” he said. “They have very good pitching. We just have to come out (today) with the same mindset and same attitude we had (Tuesday), and hopefully we didn’t use all of our hits tonight.”

Tonight’s game between the two remaining unbeaten clubs will be in Franklin County.

Natchez 11-year-olds 3,

Lincoln County Americans 2

The Natchez 11-year-old All-Stars hung on to win a nail-biter Thursday night against the Lincoln County Americans to improve to 2-0 in the north sub-district tournament.

Natchez jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After adding an insurance run, Natchez held off a Lincoln American comeback and won the game 3-2.

“I think what you saw tonight was the kids really came out and played to their potential,” Natchez coach Cole Brown said. “All the credit goes to the kids and all their hard work and practices leading up to the tournament.”

Natchez got two solid pitching performances from winning pitcher Andrew Porter and closing pitcher Marshal Edmonds, Brown said.

“We had a tremendous defensive effort, and the pitching was some of the best we’ve had all year,” he said.

Josh Day led Natchez offensively, going 2-for-2 with a double. Rudy Nugent added a double of his own for the Natchez squad.

Tucker Lambert took the loss for the Lincoln Americans. Parker Flowers tripled for the Lincoln County team.

With the win, Natchez earns a bye tonight and will face the winner of the game between the Lincoln County Americans and Franklin County at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The winner of tonight’s game, which is at 7 p.m. at Duncan Park, will have to defeat Natchez twice to win the tournament.

“I don’t think you can underestimate how important a day of rest is tomorrow and being able to come out Thursday rested,” Brown said. “The ball is in our court, the team has to beat us twice.”

Brown said he has seen growth in his team since they started practice a few weeks ago.

“I think the kids have matured a lot in the last three weeks,” he said. “They have showed me a lot about character. At the end of the day we want to win games, but when I win them with guys that are going to give their all every time that’s the most important thing, win or lose.”