Cathedral can take state title with win

Published 12:03 am Friday, May 22, 2015

NATCHEZ — After a 13-1 thrashing of Smithville Wednesday afternoon at Trustmark Park, the Cathedral Green Wave will look to put away the MHSAA Class 1A State Championship baseball series with a win at 1 p.m. today.

Quinton Logan started Game 1 for Cathedral on the mound, and will make the move to first base for Game 2. Green Wave head coach Craig Beesley said he will turn to either Gabe Smith or Sam Parker to start Friday’s game.

“I think Gabe and Sam will both pitch,” Beesley said. “I don’t think anybody will be able to go seven innings, though. The heat really took a toll on Quinton and (catcher) Zach (Flattmann) yesterday, so I don’t think anyone can go the whole game.”

Email newsletter signup

Parker pitched one and two-third innings in Game 1. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out three.

“Sam has come out of the bullpen twice for us at Trustmark, once last year and then (Wednesday) and I feel good about bringing him in with runners on base,” Beesley said.

For Smithville, Micah McCain is the likely starter.

The Seminoles went to Blayde Scott in the first game, but he was quickly chased and Heath Noe came in and pitched four and a third innings.

Another likely scenario for Smithville would be Blake Comer, who played second base in Game 1. Along with McCain, Comer was a main option on the mound for the Seminoles this season.

build off their 15-hit performance in the first game. It is the 12th time the Green Wave have recorded 10-plus hits in a game and their record improved to 11-1 in those contests.

The hits also allowed Cathedral to take advantage of the base paths, something Beesley hopes to continue in Game 2.

“We need to be aggressive on the base paths,” Beesley said after Game 1. “That helped us early in (Game 1). Another thing is I want my pitchers to get ahead in the count and throw strikes.”

Beesley said the Green Wave will go with the same lineup from Wednesday’s game with Parker or Smith on the mound.

Smithville only recorded three hits in Game 1 and head coach Stephen Kerr said he knew scoring runs would be a tough task.

“We are going to have to scratch across some runs in this series,” he said earlier in the week. “Runs were easier to come across for us last year than they are this year, so it is going to take us playing with intensity and mistake free.”

For Cathedral, the team is just keeping their focus on Game 2 and trying not to get ahead of themselves.

“We’ve got to keep our composure and come back here and get Game 2,” Green Wave shortstop Andrew Beesley said. “That is where all our focus is and needs to be.”

Game 2 of the series is scheduled to be streamed on nfhsnetwork.com.