Wrapping up the summer schedule, both Escalon baseball teams had decent final tournaments.

The ‘A’ team of primarily varsity players went 3-1 in their final week of play while the JV ‘B’ team compiled a 2-2 mark over their last four games.

Escalon’s A team took part in the Ron Vermeulen Tournament and played all four of their games at Johansen High School in Modesto.

“We dropped the first one to Gregori, 5-4, it was very competitive,” said head coach Greg Largent. “We had the lead but had one bad inning, still the kids played hard and there were a lot of positives.”

Nick Warren started on the mound for the Cougars and took the hard luck loss.

“We took the lead 3-0 but then we gave up five runs in the second inning,” Largent added.

Action started on Monday, June 26 and Escalon returned with a vengeance in game two of their opening day doubleheader, rolling past Central Valley of Ceres by a 15-1 final.

“Hitting was contagious, everybody pitched in,” said Largent. “Anthony LaRossa started, he went three innings and did a good job.”

Carson George went two innings in relief.

Game three on Tuesday saw the Cougars shut out Beyer, 4-0.

“It was one of our best games of the summer,” Largent noted. “Steven Grossi started on the mound and got the complete game win. Offensively, we got the bunts down, Anthony LaRossa had a timely hit.”

In their final game, Escalon topped Johansen by an 18-1 score in a run-shortened game.

“Everybody got to play, everyone contributed,” explained Largent. “Zach Abraham and Cole Gilbert both hit well.”

The Cougars finished second in their pool; Gregori finished first in the pool and qualified for the finals.

“There were a lot of smiles, it was a good way to end the summer,” Largent said of closing out the campaign with a 3-1 tourney mark and an overall 10-5-1 record. “We played 16 games over 24 days; the kids got a taste of the dog days of summer. It was a successful campaign.”

JV coach Ken Baptista said the ‘B’ team also did well over the summer and went 2-2 in their season ending tournament at Modesto High School.

They beat Enochs on Monday and lost to St. Mary’s in a lopsided contest on Tuesday, then beat Gregori by a 4-1 final on Wednesday.

“It was our best game of the summer, we hit, we pitched, we played good defense,” Baptista said.

They lost the final tournament game, 9-7, to Pitman on Thursday but still had an overall winning record for the summer, winning nine and losing seven.

“We saw a lot of good things from our (incoming) freshmen and sophomores,” Baptista said.