Bulldogs rally past Yellow Jackets, blowout Trojans

Published 10:52 am Monday, February 27, 2023

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NATCHEZ — Down by four runs and running out of innings, Natchez High School’s varsity baseball team staged quite a comeback last Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs defeated the Enterprise Attendance Center Yellow Jackets 11-7 at Chester Willis Field.

After giving up three runs in the top of the sixth inning, it appeared that all was lost for host Natchez High as the Bulldogs went into the bottom of the sixth trailing Enterprise 7-3. However, a combination of stolen bases and key base hits allowed the Bulldogs to put forth an eight-run rally in that frame to take an 11-7 lead.

“I was proud of the way we played,” Natchez High head coach Dan Smith said. “We fought back. We didn’t get our heads down. Everybody stayed within the game plan. Enterprise is a good team.”

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Leading the way for the Bulldogs’ amazing comeback were Martavis Woods, Daiquiri Gaylor, and Caron Williams. Woods doubled and was brought in by Gaylor. Williams had the big hit in the bottom of the sixth with a bases-clearing bunt single. Smith said his players stole a lot of bases to keep the pressure on the Yellow Jackets, who ended up using four pitchers.

Woods finished 2-for-3 at the plate while both Minor and Koren Harris went 2-for-4. Minor was also the winning pitcher despite allowing six runs, all of them earned, on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts over five and one-third innings.

Haygan Floyd, A.J. Raiford, and Payne Waldrop each had two base hits for Enterprise.

Natchez High improved to 4-1 with the win and played at Cathedral High School on Tuesday at Chester Willis Field. Smith said with the Green Wave being the home team in this long-time cross-town rivalry, the junior varsity game was at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 6:30 p.m.

Natchez High 15, Amite County 0 (Friday; 3 innings)

NATCHEZ — Skylar Brown allowed just three and struck out five batters as the Natchez High School Bulldogs cruised to a 15-0 win over the Amite County High School Trojans in just three innings last Friday night at Chester Willis Field.

“We played pretty well. We threw a lot of strikes. We also didn’t make any errors, which was good,” Smith said.

Brown walked just two batters and 35 of the 56 pitches he threw in his three innings went for strikes. And hit got plenty of run support over the last two innings. Natchez High plated eight runs in the bottom of the second inning to essentially put the game away and the Bulldogs added six more runs in the bottom of the third to run-rule Amite County.

“We hit the ball well. We were more patient at the plate. When they got on plate, they did a good job bringing them in,” Smith said. “In the bottom of the second, Trylon (Minor) and Martavis (Woods), they got us some big hits. We had the bases loaded once on one of those hits.”

Woods ended up going 2-for-2 with three runs scored while Minor was 2-for-3 with one run batted in and one run scored. Kameron Carter also had a big game at the plate for the Bulldogs as she was 1-for-2 with a triple, one RBI, and three runs scored. So did Jwun Mackey, who was 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run scored.

Daiquiri Gaylor went 1-for-1 with two runs scored and Caron Williams was walked once, was hit by a pitch, and scored two runs.

Elvis Turbeville was charged with the loss despite not giving up a base hit in his one and one-third innings. He did allow seven runs, five of them earned, on six walks while striking out two batters. JaKenyon McGhee had a triple at the plate, but in relief of Turbeville, he gave up eight runs, all of them earned, on seven hits and two hit batters while striking out just one batter in his 1 1/3 innings.