NATCHEZ – Another sluggish start for the Cathedral Green Wavereally has head coach Craig Beesley starting to wonder.

Fortunately for him and his club, the Wave answered to take a16-6 win in five innings over Bogue Chitto Thursday to stayundefeated in Division 7-1A. But when the Bobcats got six runs inthe first inning thanks to three Cathedral errors, that’s when thecoaching staff, fans and everyone else involved really started tosquirm.

Like a bad rash, that bad first inning flared up again for theGreen Wave.

“That’s the third game in a row we’ve given up multiple runs inthe first inning,” Beesley said. “In the Vidalia tournament, wegave up six and three in the first innings, and we gave up six inthe first tonight. Maybe we did take this team lightly. We kickedthe ball behind (pitcher Charlie Lane) a couple of times, and if wewould have made plays, we would have gotten out of that first.”

Give Bogue Chitto credit for putting the bat on the ball offLane in the first, something the Bobcats couldn’t do againstPatrick McDonough the next four. Not only did the left-hander helpout after everything went wrong in the first inning, but the GreenWave answered with five runs in the bottom half and four in thenext two innings.

The first inning lasted 35 minutes after the Bobcats sent 12 mento the plate, but soon after that the contest resembled the 14-0win the Wave put on Bogue Chitto in the first meeting.

“We had some pitching problems up there, and we came out alittle flat,” said senior Jeremy Davis, who had two doubles andscored two runs. “I was glad we bounced back. We showed a littlecharacter by doing that. We’ve got to come out and be ready to playfrom the very first pitch. A lot of times we’ll come out a littleflat.”

The memory of that first inning didn’t linger as the Green Wavemade just one error after that and the Bobcats piled up six – eightfor the game. Cathedral led 13-6 after three before tacking onthree in the fifth inning to enact the 10-run rule.

Andrew Ellard – back in the leadoff spot after starting theseason there – singled in Jesse Morrison and Alex Middleton withtwo outs in the fifth to end it.

“We hit the ball, and they made errors,” BC head coach Adam Moaksaid of the first inning. “Errors killed us. We’d get two quickouts and couldn’t get the third one.”

The Green Wave turned the tide quick in the first inning offBogue Chitto starter Joseph Hart. Davis and Lane came up withconsecutive doubles – Lane’s shot called a ground-rule when itrolled under the fence – to spark the rally.

Lane, Drew Burns and Zack Calhoun got on and scored on wildpitches and an error.

In the second the Wave got four after two quick outs with Daviscoming in on a wild pitch, Lane on an error, Burns on an error andCalhoun on a single from Morrison.

“We got up there, and we hit a couple hard,” Davis said. “We hadsome two-out rallies up there. That always helps out a lot.”

Cory Washington came in to pitch in the fourth for the Bobcats,but the result was more of the same. The Green Wave got four morewith Lane doubling in a run, Calhoun singling Lane in and two morecoming in on an error and a passed ball.

“I told them we had to get some runs but let’s not try to getsix right now,” Beesley said of the first inning. “We ended upgetting five. Those (doubles) were too big hits in the firstinning. We’re looking for a new leadoff hitter, and it’s startingto look pretty good. Andrew didn’t get a hit tonight, but he lookedpretty good. He’ll come around. Those balls will start dropping forhim.

“The lineup we had tonight we had the first of the year. We’vetried a couple of different things these last couple of weeks, andI think that’s how we’re going to stay for a while.”

McDonough, meanwhile, made the Bobcats put up eggs on thescoreboard after that first inning and didn’t allow a hit. Laneexited after the first inning, and McDonough retired eight straight- including a string of five consecutive strikeouts.

Lange Porter got on in the fifth and stole second with two outs,but McDonough got the next batter to strike out to end thegame.

“We don’t see a whole lot of left-handers, and it’s a differentpitcher,” Moak said. “It was offspeed, and we’ve been strugglinghitting offspeed all year. We’ve been struggling hitting the ball,but we did do better. We didn’t strike out as many times as we’vebeen striking out.”

The Bobcats didn’t strike out in that first inning. BlakeWallace came up with a run-scoring single, while Hart scored fromthird on D.J. Duncan’s flyout to center.

“I was pleased with how Patrick came in and settled us down,”Beesley said. “Charlie will give me the innings if I need him, butthat first inning he’s been struggling with the last twogames.”