McCollum’s arm and bat power East St. John past H.L. Bourgeois, 9-4 in critical game

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 6, 2005

McCollum picks up complete-game victory

BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

RESERVE-It been the same method of success for East St. John.

When they field well, they play well.

The Wildcats only allowed four runs on Saturday and it showed on the scoreboard as they defeated H.L. Bourgeois, 9-4.

With the win, East St. John is now 12-10 overall and 4-3 in district 6-5A.

The star of the game for the Wildcats was pitcher Alex McCollum. McCollum picked up the complete-game victory, allowing only four runs on six hits and striking out six while walking only two in route to the win.

He also provided the Wildcats with a spark at the plate, going 3-4 with a double and a run driven in.

Greg Sentimore also had a solid night at the plate for East St. John going 3-4 with a double.

“Anytime Alex is on the mound we have a chance to win,” East St. John Head Coach Macky Waguespack said. “Saturday he got hit a little bit more than he usually does.

“He had a little case of the dead arm but in those situations he has to learn how to overcome that and he was able to do that quite successfully. When your guys are swinging the bats like they know how and you can put some runs up to help your pitcher early, it makes it easier for you. Overall Alex threw pretty well and came out swinging a good bat. He helped his own cause out.”

As it has been all season, Waguespack said his team will only go as far as their fielding takes them.

“I don’t know when it is going to happen but at some point this season the light is going to click on,” Waguespack said. “We are going to put 2-3 games together where we play great defense. With the hitters we have, we have a good chance to compete if we are able to straighten that out.”