PORT GIBSON — In two-plus seasons at Port Gibson, coach Dan Smith has seen plenty of improvement with his team. So much, in fact, that it was hard to keep him from smiling a bit even after an ugly loss.

The Blue Waves managed only three hits, struck out 14 times in five innings and committed four errors in a 14-2 loss to Columbia on Wednesday. Despite the miscues, the fact Port Gibson (6-5, 3-1 Division 7-4A) has already exceeded both its overall and division win totals from last season left Smith willing to write this one off as just part of playing baseball instead of a troubling trend.

“We hadn’t won that many district games since I’ve been here. We won one last year, so they’ve come a long way,” Smith said.

Although they’re no longer a pushover, Wednesday’s game shows the Blue Waves have a long way to go before they’re playoff contenders.

Columbia scored in each of the first three innings to take a 5-2 lead, then blew the game open with nine runs in the fourth. Blake Sistrunk and Ty Randall each drove in two runs with singles in the big inning, pinch-hitter William Sanford had a two-run double and Aaron Ellzey brought in two more runs with a triple. Ellzey finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Forrest Dungan had an RBI single and scored three runs for Columbia (8-5, 4-0).

“We did not seem focused in the beginning of the game, and we’re going to address that,” Columbia coach Greg Owen said. “We’ve been swinging it well so I felt like we were going to score some runs.”

For Port Gibson, Adarrius Barnes doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, and Silento Sayles hit an RBI double in the third. The Blue Waves only managed one other hit against Columbis starter Courtney Forbes, though, and that was an infield single by Johnny Banks.

Forbes went four innings, walked two and struck out 11. Sistrunk pitched the final inning and struck out the side after the first two batters reached base.

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com