NATCHEZ — Despite an 11-1 loss Saturday that ended Natchez High School’s season, head baseball coach Skip Golding saw a lot of positives in his team as he looks back on the year.

The Bulldogs finished the season 4-12, being eliminated by St. Martin High School in the first round of the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs. But the growth Golding said he saw in his players gives him high hopes for the future of the program.

“I think we had a really successful season,” Golding said. “We accomplished what we set out to do: get them to act like a baseball team, look like a baseball team, represent Natchez High as a baseball team and try to get better.”

Golding said he told his players after the game what a difference a year makes.

“They looked good, acted right, and I enjoyed taking them out to restaurants and being around them,” Golding said.

The Bulldogs traveled to Gulf Hills for their Saturday matchup against St. Martin, which is near Golding’s home in Ocean Springs. After the game, Golding said he took the players out to eat and to the beach.

“Some of them had never been to the Gulf of Mexico before,” Golding said. “Some of them didn’t believe it was the Gulf of Mexico, so I told them my house was way over there, so I ought to know.”

But Golding said he had to turn down requests by his players to visit his home after he said that.

“When we play baseball, it’s a business trip, not a family reunion,” Golding said.

Next for the Bulldogs is summer ball, and Golding said he was going to have his players participate in the Vidalia summer league.

“Sports are just like academics, if you take off for the summer and don’t read or do math, you will regress,” Golding said. “It’s the same with baseball. If you don’t do anything until January, you won’t get better.”

Also on the agenda is seventh-period baseball, which Golding said is likely to happen starting in the fall. This will serve to help build continuity with his players, Golding said. Golding also said it will allow him to work with them more than he’s currently allowed.

“Right now, I can only practice with them Feb. 1 through the end of the season,” Golding said. “With this, I could practice with them year round. It gives me that much more exposure to them.”