by RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

East St. John entered district play this week on a four-game winning streak as it swept three games at the aSouth Terrebonne tournament Thursday and Friday.

The Wildcats defeated Terrebonne and South Terrebonne Thursday then topped H.L. Bourgeois Friday.

“We wanted to enter district on a high note and we’re doing that,” said East St. John coach Ronald August. “We did pretty much what we’ve preached: win every inning, and you win the game. I thought we did a great job pitching to contact, getting outs and double plays when we needed to. We played East St. John baseball.”

ESJ downed South Terrebonne, 4-2. The teams were tied 2-2 in the fifth inning when Andrew Taylor and Ashton Lewis cranked out back-to-back doubles to push their team ahead 3-2. Darnell Lee added an insurance run to the tally when he chalked up an RBI single of his own.

Lewis went 3-for-4 in the game and finished a home run short of the cycle, hitting a single, double and triple.

Daniel Franklin pitched the complete game to earn the win. He went seven innings and struck out six. He allowed five hits.

ESJ scored four runs in the sixth to close out Terrebonne, 10-9.

Taylor went 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

Bruce Winn went five innings and earned the victory, allowing four earned runs on five hits. He struck out four. Courtney Freeman earned the save, pitching two scoreless innings.

Taylor had another big day in ESJ’s win over H.L. Bourgeois, an 8-5 victory that saw the Wildcats score in five different innings.

“Getting him back is big. We need his presence in the lineup,” said August of his cleanup hitter who returned to the team last week after a brief absence.

“He’s provided the punch we’ve been looking for.”

Freeman earned the win, pitching five innings. A’keem Brown earned the save.