NATCHEZ — Natchez High School baseball had a chance to win its region last week at Brookhaven High School, and now it limps into the South State playoffs.

Natchez’s (12-12, 3-2) first South State playoff game is Friday at Chester Willis Field against Long Beach High School.

The Bulldogs have faced a gauntlet of teams during the previous weeks. Before losing the Region 3-5A title to Brookhaven, the Bulldogs lost to Terry High School at home 16-5. Monday, Natchez faced in-town rival and 2015 MHSAA 1A state champion Cathedral and lost 15-3.

Coach Dan Smith and his Bulldogs have a new test — Long Beach High School. Smith makes no assumptions regarding Natchez’s first playoff opponent.

“If they are in the playoffs we assume they’re good,” Smith said.

Max Preps lists Long Beach at 12-12 on the season with a 4-5 region record. Smith has decided to give Jatavis Melton the nod as the starter for Game 1. Natchez will travel to Long Beach for Game 2, where Shavoké Herrington will get the start. If the series splits, Natchez will play a rubber match against Long Beach at home, Monday.

“Everybody is 0-0 in the playoffs so you never know what happens,” Jadarius Ivory said.

Ivory doesn’t take the losing streak as a setback.

“We played a few team late in the season that will help us in the playoff run,” Ivory said. “Those are what playoff teams are going to look like.”

Ivory said the Bulldogs learned they can’t make the same mistakes they made in region play against playoff-ready teams.

He highlighted the likelihood that teams are going to hit the ball harder and more often, and defense would become a bigger factor.

The Bulldogs committed four errors against Cathedral and seven errors against Brookhaven.

“If we make the routine plays of baseball, we’re going to stay in the game,” he said.

Smith said influencing routine plays does emphasize the necessity of his pitchers to locate pitches effectively.

“If they pitch where they’re supposed to, we know where the ball is going to go,” Smith said.

Smith has also experimented with his batting order. Darrick Lewis, who usually hits closer to the middle of the order, batted seventh Monday against Cathedral. Tydarrius Tyrell, who has added speed to the bottom of the Bulldog order this season, was in the No. 6 spot Monday.

“Our hitters can hit anywhere in the lineup, really,” Smith said. “In high school, when you get to the bottom of the lineup, pitchers think they’re easy outs. If they think they’re easy outs, they might look up and see the ball is in the gap.”

If Natchez wins its first playoff series, it would move on to face Hattiesburg High School, which received a bye through the first round.

Hattiesburg went 20-5 and a perfect 9-0 in region play.