NATCHEZ – All Patrick McDonough had to do was take a glance in the opposing dugout and another in the stands.

In a jam with the bases loaded and one out, the Cathedral left-hander may have just used the atmosphere to refocus himself in a tough situation. The Green Wave had a 4-0 lead at the time over St. Aloysius, but the Flashes were on the verge of breaking the game wide open with the middle of their lineup at the plate.

McDonough got the first batter to swing and miss on a full count. He did the same to the Flashes’ cleanup hitter to end the threat and preserve what eventually became a 6-2 Cathedral win. Cathedral’s victory ended St. Al’s seven-game winning streak.

“I don’t even know – I guess I was feeling a little bit tired,” said McDonough, who struck out 11 in five innings. “With all the people out here, it makes me work harder when I know all those people are coming out here. I’ve been in a bunch of situations like that, and I think I do better coming from behind than being ahead.”

McDonough’s efforts kept a good hitting St. Al team at bay. The sophomore threw only five innings before Jeremy Davis shut the door for the win, and the Flashes had just two hits – both in the second – before getting two unearned runs off Davis in the sixth.

But McDonough’s efforts were enough as the Green Wave (7-0, 16-2) got runs early to take the win and get a leg up in the race for the Division 7-1A championship.

In the second inning, St. Al (10-4) had runners on second and third after Blake Tidwell and Johnathan Longmire singled with two outs, but McDonough got a strikeout to end the inning.

They left a runner on third in the third and on second in the fourth, then loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. But McDonough finished the inning to take all of the momentum away from the Flashes.

The Flashes finally scored two in the sixth when Curtis Robertson scored from second on an errant pickoff throw to first and Ryno Martin-Nez scored on a Longmire groundout.

“We’ve been hitting the ball well all year,” Wilkerson said. “We’ve been killing the ball. We just didn’t get it done. We left eight guys on the bases – that’s a small army.”

The Flashes had problems defensively in the second that gave the Green Wave runs early. Zack Calhoun put down a bunt with a runner on first and got on when the throw went into right field.

Then the throw from right was wild to second, and the runner scored as Calhoun went to second. Then Chris Rasco tripled in Calhoun for a 2-0 lead.

In the third, Charlie Lane doubled in Davis and later scored on a Calhoun bunt for a 4-0 lead.