Rummel bests EA in nine frames
East Ascension dropped two one-run games in the Jay Patterson Shootout at Johnny Ambeau Park before their final two scheduled games of the tournament set for Saturday were canceled due to the weather.
“It is always disappointing when it rains and you have an opportunity to host such good baseball teams,” East Ascension head coach Wayne Grenfell said. “We were fortunate to play two games and learn a little bit about our baseball team. The way the rain was supposed to set in there was a chance we could have not played any.”
Saturday’s games were initially pushed back to the afternoon before being rescheduled for Sunday. Ultimately no games were played this weekend in the 13th annual Jay Patterson Shootout.
East Ascension (4-8-1) fell 1-0 to Shaw Thursday before dropping a 3-2 decision to Rummel Friday night in nine innings.
“Obviously, you want to win all the time but everything we do is helping us for district play,” Grenfell said. “Both of those games we played, we were 90 feet away with the winning run. We have a lot of guys hitting balls right at people and they are making plays. We are just trying to put our potentially best players on the field. We are just trying to create a spark. Find somebody to get in that lineup who can hit, field and give us a chance to win. We are 1-5 in one run games. Hopefully that won’t stay the case and we can find a way to win those.”
Albert Hotfeiter picked up the win Friday in two innings of relief. Alec Singletary took the loss for East Ascension despite going seven innings in which he surrendered three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out nine.
“Alec fought his way through and gave us a chance to win,” Grenfell said.
Rummel (7-5) went ahead early 1-0 in the first inning and added another run in the sixth inning.
East Ascension did not get a hit till the sixth inning when freshmen Chase Rivett singled in his first varsity at-bat. Jared Kleinpeter’s sacrifice fly put the Spartans on the board to cut it to 2-1.
East Ascension added another run in the seventh inning on Levin Fairchild’s sacrifice fly to knot it up 2-2 and force extra innings.
Matt Fury scored the eventual winning run in the ninth inning after singling, advancing on a bunt and scoring on a misplayed fly ball.
Fury was 1 for 3 for Rummel, while Rivett was 1 for 2 and Ben Robinson was 1 for 4 with a double for East Ascension.
Ethan Guidry took the loss in Thursday’s game striking out seven in five innings while giving up one run but hit five batters. Jared Landry went the distance for Shaw giving up one hit, while striking out five and walking two.
The single run of the game in the fourth inning when three batters were hit. The Spartans only hit came in seventh inning when Tim Robinson singled before being stranded at third.
DeMarco Baldwin was 2 for 2 for Shaw (5-7).
East Ascension travels to Assumption Tuesday before playing Ponchatoula, Berwick, Fontainebleau and Mandeville in St. Amant’s Gator Invitational this weekend.
“We are not where we want to be but we are not far,” Grenfell said. “We are getting good starting pitching performances and we are excited about that. We think we can win with those guys if we play defense and come through with some timely hitting.”