EA stymies Destrehan

• By CHRIS CHAPPLE
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Mar 30, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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GONZALES — East Ascension senior pitcher Dustin Lambert gave his team a strong advantage by retiring all seven of the leadoff batters he faced in Saturday’s crucial District 6-5A baseball matchup against Destrehan.

Lambert, Dustin Wambsgans and Ben Robinson added two hits apiece as the Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 5-3.

East Ascension improves to 19-5 and owns the District 6-5A lead at 4-0. Destrehan (14-9, 2-2) and St. Amant are District 6-5A teams which advanced to the Class 5A state tournament in 2007.

“Dustin Lambert really stepped up and took the bull by the horns for us on the mound,” East Ascension coach Wayne Grenfell said. “He wasn’t going to lose today.”

Lambert (6-1) scattered five hits and struck out six in a complete-game effort.

“We set the tempo in the first inning by scoring three runs,” Grenfell said. “When you pitch well and play good defense, you’re going to be successful. We did that today with error-free ball.”

Wambsgans smashed an RBI double to deep right field for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Wambsgans also stole two bases, including home. Robinson added an RBI single.

Left-handed hitter Logan Gares drove in two runs for Destrehan in the third inning by hitting a deep shot down the left-field line.

Robinson’s RBI single to right field drove in Lambert, who singled, as the Spartans led 4-2 after three innings.

Destrehan’s Shaine Babineaux hit a solo homer to right field, which carried 375 feet, to pull his team within 4-3 in the fourth inning.

Wambsgans hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Matt Richard in the bottom of the fourth inning for the final margin.

Lambert faced just three batters in the second, fifth and seventh innings.

Grenfell said his hitters are working on become more versatile.