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VICKSBURG — Mason Moore pitched five shutout innings and Tanner Wimberly had three base hits to lead the Cathedral High School Green Wave to an 8-3 win over the Porter’s Chapel Academy Eagles last Tuesday night.

Moore got the start on the mound and he constantly pounded the strike zone. He gave up just five hits, walked only two and struck out five. And one of those walks was to Porter’s Chapel’s leadoff hitter.

“I thought our pitching was pretty good last night. We threw a lot of strikes and played good defense,” Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said. “(Moore) did well. He was in the zone. He threw a lot of strikes. We played good defense behind him.”

And while Cathedral got back on the winning track after its 6-5 loss at Silliman Institute last Saturday afternoon, there were a few things Beesley was not too thrilled with.

“Our hitting and base-running, we’ve got a lot of improving to do on. Tanner had three of our six hits. We had several base-running mistakes that we’ve got to correct before we get to the district part of our schedule. Hopefully, we’ll get to swinging the bats well by then.”

Wimberly ended up going 3-for-3 with a double, three runs batted in and three runs scored. Zeke Flattmann also had a double as he went 1-for-3 with one RBI. Tyler Gregg was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, was walked once, and reached on an error. Noah Russ was 1-for-2, was walked twice, and scored two runs. Jake Hairston was walked three times, but scored only one run. 

Paxton Junkin reached on an error and scored one run. Moore also scored a run despite striking out three times himself.

Cathedral jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning with one of those runs courtesy of a single by Wimberly. The Green Wave added two runs in the top of the third inning and another run in the top of the fourth for a 5-0 lead.

Then the Green Wave scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning for an 8-0 lead. Beesley went to Hairston to close the game out. But he struggled in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Eagles capitalized on the situation.

“We made an error behind him early in that inning. He got behind the count on a couple of batters and they took advantage,” Beesley said.

Porter’s Chapel ended up scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-3 game, but Hairston, who started the game at shortstop, bounced back in a big way by shutting out the Eagles in the bottom of the seventh.

“He pitched well in the seventh. I’d love to use him as a closer, but eventually he’ll have to be a starter,” Beesley said. “He made some great plays on defense last night at shortstop.”

Cathedral (3-1) next plays on Friday at the Loyd Star Classic in Brookhaven. The Green Wave takes on a couple of former MHSAA rivals in Franklin County High School at 4 p.m. and Loyd Star Attendance Center at 7 p.m.