NATCHEZ — If there were halves in baseball, Trinity Episcopal’s Friday night matchup against Columbia Academy would have been a tale of two halves.

Starter Jake Winston gave Trinity three strong innings and an early 5-0 lead, supported by strong defense behind him.

But Trinity head coach Mitch Ashmore opted to pull Winston after three innings to save his arm for next week’s playoff series — and the Saints’ defense seemed to suffer after Winston left the mound.

Left-hander Quinton Logan and right-hander Daniel Dunaway combined for four innings of relief, but the Saints’ offense had to give Trinity some insurance runs in order to etch out an 8-6 win against Columbia. The Saints committed two errors after Winston was pulled, something for which assistant coach Richy Spears said he didn’t have an explanation.

“We just had a couple of errors, a couple of walks, and you throw that in there all together, it’s just rough,” Spears said. “I really can’t explain that. I guess we just weren’t ready for the ball.”

The Saints scored first in the bottom of the first inning when Winston hit a two-run home run that scored Dunaway. An RBI single by Caleb Gillespie that scored Sky Logan extended Trinity’s lead to 3-0.

Trinity tacked on a run in the second inning when Trey Fleming scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Dunaway. In the bottom of the third inning, Gillespie singled in Logan again to make it 5-0 Saints.

Quinton Logan came in relief in the top of the fourth, and Columbia immediately took advantage of some mental miscues by Trinity. A wild pitch scored Columbia’s Ty Randall, and a single by Ryan Stringer sent home P.J. Hammond. Columbia Academy made it 5-3 on a play at the plate where Saints catcher Andrew Moroney dropped the ball.

But Sky Logan gave the Saints some insurance runs in the bottom half of the frame when he blasted a three-run home run that scored Frazier Hogan and Winston.

Columbia Academy cut Trinity’s lead to 8-5 in the top of the fifth when a throwing error by third baseman Peyton Young let two runs in.

The Cougars scored their final run of the game in the top of the sixth when Caleb Hill hit a bases-loaded single that bounced off Quinton Logan’s left arm. No one could make a play, and Dylan Reid was safe at home. With Quinton’s pitching arm being hurt, Ashmore brought Dunaway to the mound to get the final four outs.

Dunaway finished the game for the Saints, getting one strikeout and hitting one batter.

Winston got the win for Trinity, giving up just two hits and striking out five in his three innings of work. Quinton Logan yielded six runs, four earned, in 2 2/3 innings of work. He struck out five, walked two, hit one batter and gave up four hits.

Trinity (8-6, 4-2) will host Centreville in the first round of the MAIS Class AA playoffs next Tuesday.