By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Despite two losses to finish this past weekend’s East Ascension tournament, Wildcat Baseball has guaranteed itself a winning summer by virtue of a 6-3 win over Dutchtown’s summer team on Friday.

The win represented the Wildcats’ seventh this summer. East St. John-based Wildcat baseball (7-4-1) closes against Jesuit’s summer team this Wednesday at home.

Overall, the summer success has been welcome after a major slump East St. John endured to end the prep season – welcome to the team’s fans, its players, and its coach.

“We’ve been better,” said Wildcats Coach Ryan Sims. “The main thing we’ve been trying to accomplish has been to get these kids to take everything pitch by pitch, inning by inning. We need to be consistent in what we do, not taking days off.”

In the opening round of the EA tournament against Dutchtown, Wildcat Baseball performed in all phases. Dutchtown didn’t score a run until the seventh inning, when it was already 6-0.

Wildcats pitcher Lionel Weston (2-1) started and went all seven innings to earn the victory.

“He held it down all day,” Sims said. “He threw strikes and the defense behind him made the plays. It was just solid baseball.”

Donald Goff went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Justin Howard was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Wildcats got on the board in the first inning after Reynaldo Young led off the game with a walk. Torri Zeno singled, and Goff followed with a two-run double to make it 2-0.

Neither team would score until the fourth inning, when the Wildcats scored two more. RBIs by Justin Howard and Goff made it 4-0.

Wildcat Baseball would add a run in the fifth and sixth innings to build a lead that Dutchtown could not overcome.

“We did a good job getting the clutch hits with guys in scoring position,” said Sims.

The Wildcats lost their next two tournament games on Saturday, falling to Northshore 10-0 and Brother Martin 14-0.

Last Wednesday, the Wildcats had an early four run lead on the St. Amant summer team, but couldn’t hold on, falling 7-6 on the road.

St. Amant scored two runs in the second, three in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

The trouble for the Wildcats in the third inning, Sims said, came from a lack of focus defensively.

“We had a lead, but in that one inning we had a complete breakdown,” Sims said. “We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors, and they got a few hits in between those.”

Pitcher Richard DiMaggio took the loss for the Wildcats.

“We pitched well,” said Sims. “But we made too many errors.”