NATCHEZ — Cathedral’s 8-5 victory against Franklin County Tuesday evening was far from dominant.

“Not one phase of the game did we excel in today,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. “Our pitchers were behind in the count at the first of the game, base running was terrible, our defense got on our heels a couple of times, and you know, we just didn’t play well.”

Wild pitches and an error provided early Franklin County scores that drew passionate chants from a well-traveled Bulldog fanbase. And the Franklin County faithful had plenty to cheer for as Cathedral ace Quinton Logan struggled to find the strike zone, throwing 53 pitches in two innings of work and walking eight batters before being pulled in the third inning. Sam Parker relieved Logan, and after getting out of the third inning with an Andrew Beesley double play, Parker would go on to strike out five of the next six batters he faced.

“Sam is really good coming out of the pen,” Beesley said. “I would like to see him fill up the zone more, but that’s all of our pitchers. Sam, Quinton, Gabe (Smith), Pate (Shirley), I just want to see pitchers throw strikes.”

Franklin County head coach Brent Calcote said Parker’s performance changed the game, as the Bulldogs held a 3-1 advantage before Parker came in to pitch.

“They walked a lot of our batters, but once (Parker) came in, they started throwing strikes, and that was huge,” Calcote said.

Though Beesley was displeased with his team’s performance Tuesday, he did acknowledge the team’s ability to hit the ball with men in scoring position. Cathedral started its rally when Beesley drove an RBI triple down the first base line in the fourth inning. The score tied the game 3-3 before Zach Flattmann lifted the ball over Franklin County shortstop Ethan Verdin to score two more. Following a score on a Franklin County wild pitch, Pate Shirley capped off the inning with an RBI single, giving the Green Wave a 7-3 lead.

Despite the excitement and offense generated, Beesley was none too happy about the three-hour long game that transpired.

“We have to figure out ways to pick up the pace,” Beesley said. “We don’t play that slow pace. We’ll figure that out at practice (today). It ruins the whole atmosphere of the game, but that’s what we’re going to work on.”

Calcote chalked up the mental errors to lack of play and practice time because of the rainy weather over the past two weeks.

“Nobody has really been able to see the field,” Calcote said. “That’ll change. This will all get cleaned up.”

Franklin County threatened in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded and two outs, but Parker picked off Dematre Collins on second base to seal the 8-5 victory.

Franklin County’s Chris Cantrel, who gave Cathedral fits early at the plate with his breaking ball, drew the loss for Franklin County, giving up seven runs in five innings pitched. Parker picked up the win for Cathedral.

The Green Wave improved to 4-0 with the win, while the Bulldogs fell to 3-4.