Cathedral starts strong, holds on to down FC baseball, 11-9

Franklin County’s varsity baseball debut at home on Monday, Feb. 20 didn’t finish well for the Bulldogs, who came up on the short end of an 11-9 decision to Natchez Cathedral.

The visiting team pounded out seven hits in the contest and made an early statement after plating six runs on three of those hits in the top of the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, FC’s Donovan Moore reached on a lead-off error and made his way into scoring position before Larry Pernell grounded out and Dalton Meadows flied out.

Facing two outs, Ridge Clanton drew a walk and Noah McCormick grounded out — but not before Moore pushed across a lone run for FC.

Cathedral’s offense — combined with Franklin County miscues — contributed to four more runs in the top of the second for a 10-1 lead.

In the Bulldogs’ next at-bat situation, Quez Rancifer started the latter half of the second with a walk.

Terrance Fields struck out swinging, but Ranficer would steal second and advance on a passed ball make it to third.

Dakota Chisholm hit a grounder and ultimately reached on an error and Rancifer used that opportunity to score FC’s second run of the game.

From there, Jamari Tolliver was hit by a pitch and Moore grounded into a fielder’s choice that loaded the bags.

Pernell singled on a fly ball to left that allowed Peyton Hebert — Chisholm’s courtesy runner — and Tolliver to come home and cut Cathedral’s lead to six, 10-4.

Both teams scored a run each in the third with FC’s Clanton leading off the stanza with a single and he would go on to second on a wild pitch.

Facing one out, Rancifer stroked a single to short that put runners on the corners for the Bulldogs.

Clanton would come home for his team’s fifth run before Fields lined into a double play that claimed both himself and Rancifer.

Cathedral would not score again after the third inning and held an 11-5 advantage that Franklin County slowly began to chip away at down the stretch.

The bottom of the fourth started with a fly ball single to center by Chisholm, a walk by Moore and a ground ball by Meadows that became a Cathedral error.

That miscue allowed Hebert — again as Chisholm’s courtesy runner — to plate a run.

The bottom of the fifth featured three more Franklin County runs that started when McCormick collected a lead-off walk.

Rancifer and Fields both flied out in rapid succession, but things kept moving forward with Chisholm and Tolliver each drawing walks to load the bases.

Moore came to the plate and blasted a timely double to left that brought McCormick, Hebert and Tolliver home.

This pulled the home team to within two runs of Cathedral’s lead, 11-9, but neither team found a way to score in the sixth and seventh innings.

When the dust had settled, Franklin County collected six hits and committed three errors — more than has been seen in three previous games combined.

Rancifer finished his night going 1-of-2 at the plate along with a pair of walks while Moore, Clanton, McCormick and Chisholm all recorded 1-of-3 at-bat performances and Pernell went 1-of-4.

Moore had a walk and three RBIs for the Bulldogs and Clanton had a walk and a strikeout.

McCormick walked once and struck out one time in the affair while Chisholm had a lone walk and an RBI.

Pernell was credited with two RBIs and a walk against Cathedral.

Hebert crossed home plate three times in the contest while Tolliver scored twice and Moore, Clanton, McCormick and Rancifer had one run apiece.

Franklin County utilized Meadows on the mound. He gave up six runs (all earned) on three hits in one inning, struck out two and walked three.

Clanton, who worked six innings for the Diamond Dawgs, surrendered five runs (one earned) on four hits with five strike outs and five walks.

The tandem threw for a combined 153 pitches in the game.
FC was scheduled to travel to Bogue Chitto on Monday, Feb. 27 and to West Lincoln on Tuesday, Feb. 28 — barring any weather considerations or cancellations.

The Dawgs are also slated to take part in the Copiah-Lincoln Tournament on Friday, March 3 with times to be announced.