By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — While a baseball coach will tell you that his main summer goal is to simply see his team improve in all areas, it’s not a difficult leap to believe that they’d also ideally love to build confidence and momentum into the following prep season.

To both ends, Riverside-based Fatty’s Restaurant is doing coach Britt Waguespack proud.

After beginning 1-3, Fatty’s (8-3) has now won seven straight summer games, highlighted by the Fatty’s Summer Challenge tournament at Riverside this past weekend. Fatty’s toppled summer teams based out of John Curtis, Newman and Fisher — three of Riverside’s top district rivals in prep season — to swipe a weekend sweep and a load of confidence.

“ “I stress it to the team — we’re not playing for fun,” said Waguespack. “The fun thing about this game comes when you win. We’re going to come out and have fun, because we’re going to win.

“We’re not a young team anymore. This was a quarterfinalist team. It’s time for our youth and potential to start paying off.”

Fatty’s clinched the sweep on Saturday afternoon with an exciting 7-6 victory over Fisher’s summer team, one clinched in Fatty’s final at-bat of the day.

With runners on first and third and two outs, Ritchie Terrio punched a single into left field to score Austin Vicknair for the game’s winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Due to tournament rules, the game would have ended in a 6-6 tie had Terrio failed to come through — it had exceeded the two-hour time limit.

“I went up thinking, ‘I really need a hit,’” Terrio said. “Once I saw the fastball, I knew what I had to do with it.”

Said Waguespack: “He has to be that guy. He’s spent three years in the program, and we need him to be one that comes up big. He missed some opportunities early, but he came through when it counted.”

Dylan Martin led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, and soon scored on a throwing error by Fisher to tie the game at 6-6.

Vicknair doubled with one out, and Bryant Tassin was hit by a pitch. Jake Roussel grounded into a fielder’s choice at second base, but Terrio came though in the next at bat.

The game was back and forth all day, with neither squad able to ever truly shake the other.

Fisher led 2-1 in the second when Ricky Johnson’s RBI triple tied things up. Fatty’s would move ahead when Johnson scored on a passed ball.

Fisher tied the game in the third on Tyler Reynon’s RBI single.

But Johnson struck again for Fatty’s in the fourth on a fence-clearing shot to left field for a solo home run, making it 4-3.

An RBI double by Tevyn Cagins and an RBI single by C.J. Marlboro flipped the script again to put Fisher on top by one, 5-4. But Vicknair scored on a passed ball in the fifth inning to tie the game after he was hit by a pitch.

Martin pitched the complete game on the mound and earned the win.

Tassin notched a victory on Friday when Fatty’s topped Newman’s summer team, 10-1. He allowed one run on five hits and three walks in his six innings of work. He struck out four.

Vicknair was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Martin was 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Roussel was 1-for-2 with three RBIs, and Tate Scioneaux went 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

On Saturday morning, Fatty’s defeated John Curtis’ summer team. Details were not available at press time.