Wildcats welcome Hahnville and Destrehan this week

BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

RESERVE-A big week just got a whole lot bigger for East St. John’s baseball team.

Enormously big.

After a thrilling 7-5 extra-inning victory over Thibodaux on Thursday afternoon, the Wildcats are now poised to make a run at the 6-5A district championship.

The win over Thibodaux concludes a perfect week for East St. John as the Wildcats finished 2-0 thanks to the win over the Tigers and a 11-0 victory over Terrebone on Tuesday afternoon.

17-10 overall and 8-3 in district 6-5A, the Wildcats welcome Destrehan and Hahnville this week. The Wildcats and Tigers are two teams ahead of East St. John in the district title race and this week offers the ESJ Wildcats a chance to pick up two very important games.

One of the main reasons they are able to have this chance in the upcoming week is the continued solid pitching performances that they have gotten from star right-hander Alex McCollum.

McCollum picked up yet another complete-game victory on Thursday afternoon, going nine innings and allowing only three earned runs and striking out 12.

With the game tied at five, the Wildcats were able to push across a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit, something that ironically they have allowed opposing teams to do at will this season.

“It’s a huge win for us,” an excited East St. John Head Coach Macky Waguespack said. “We are down 5-0 going into the top of the sixth inning and as has been the case all season, we come out and just put together a lot of great at-bats and claw our way back.”

Waguespack was also very impressed with the recent performances from his ace McCollum.

“He was unbelievable,” Waguespack said. “You had to be there to see it. He had only one bad inning where he gave up a couple of runs but then he just absolutely shut them down. He did not allow a single hit after the sixth inning. He did what he had to do.”