By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur
MONROE – West St. John rode a wave of momentum into its bi-district playoff matchup with host St. Frederick Thursday, but couldn’t run its winning streak to nine.
St. Frederick scored four runs in each of the second and sixth innings on its way to a 9-1 victory over a Rams team that had allowed just eight total runs over its previous five games. The Warriors (15-13) rapped out 14 hits, while the Rams mustered just two.
Austin Howard led the Rams (11-7) at the plate, collecting both Ram hits, a double and a solo home run.
The junior struggled on the mound though, going five innings and taking the loss. Dontre Turner finished the game in relief, pitching two innings.
“They swing it real well,” said West St. John assistant coach Greg Joseph. “Austin had trouble getting his curve over, and they sat on the fastball … it was just one of those days. We didn’t hit the ball well and we made a couple of mental errors in the field that cost us. Collectively, we just didn’t have our A-game.”
Though the Rams fell short of advancing, the team’s baseball program has shown steady improvement over the last three seasons, improving from a 30 seed, to a 24 and this year a 22.
The difference this year was in its pitching rotation. Howard anchored a strong pitching staff that was on fire to close the regular season.
The Rams will lose three seniors in Turner, Tim Nelson and Damond Pierce, but WSJ will look to its returning core to make another jump next season.
“We’re going to try to play a little this summer,” said Joseph.
“We just need to play more. When you look at (St. Frederick), these guys play every day, all year long. We just need a little more seasoning.”