SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcats baseball team moved up to No. 4 in last week’s www.washingtonbaseballpoll.com Washington 3A high school baseball poll, but they struggled a bit in defeating the Interlake Saints last Tuesday in the first of two games during the week at Bellevue’s Bannerwood Park.

Blaine Sutton pitched a fine game but it was the sixth inning that went down as the key inning as the Wildcats took care of the Saints, 7-3.

Mount Si coach Gary McGregor, despite the victory, was not happy with his team’s performance.

“We didn’t have very good at-bats. We didn’t have a very good approach to this game. I don’t know what Interlake’s record is, but it may be 0 for league or it might be one win in league, and we can’t take teams lightly. They (the Saints) played Liberty tough. We can’t come into the game just thinking we can show up and we could win. We have to have a different approach to the entire game,” said McGregor.

Sutton pitched five innings, gave up three runs, which were unearned, on four hits. Focus was key for the Wildcats’ senior pitcher.

“Well, I just try to keep it under control, and I never get ahead of myself, and always think that they could hit me if I do lose focus,” Sutton said.

The sixth inning was full of defensive lapses on both sides. In the top half, Mount Si, up 3-0 coming into the frame, took advantage of four Interlake errors to score four runs and take what seemed to be a commanding 7-0 lead. The Saints had a total of seven errors in the contest. The Wildcats, however, had their share of difficulty in the bottom of the inning. They committed two errors of their own that allowed the Saints to score three times, resulting in an early end to Sutton’s outing. Before there was even an out recorded in the sixth, Sutton was relieved on the mound by Kenny Casem, who shut the Saints down for the rest of the game.

“He (Sutton) did not deserve to be taken out of that game, but I needed to send a message, shake something up. Our defense needs to suck it up,” McGregor said.

Mount Si looks stronger against Newport

Things went better for Mount Si on Thursday against the No. 9 Newport Knights with an 8-1 win at Bannerwood that should propel the Wildcats all the way up to either the No. 1 or 2 spot in the state poll this week. The poll was released on Tuesday and is available on the www.washingtonbaseballpoll.com web site. As for the game, Adam Dentz pitched six innings, gave up just three hits and one run, and struck out nine.

Mount Si scored three times each in the second and third innings, and by the fourth the game was pretty much in the books. The big hit in that six-run, two-inning outburst came in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded and two out, Ian Atkinson hit a single to right field, scoring Chris Brown and Craig Weber.

Striking out four hitters in an inning is very rare in baseball, but it is possible. Dentz did just that in the fifth. He struck out the first two Knights, then struck out outfielder Neil Chalmers for what would have been the third out, except the ball went in the dirt, and the subsequent throw to first was wide of the base. Dentz then struck out the next Newport hitter without any trouble.

This week, the Wildcats are in the midst of a busy schedule of games. Friday, they wrap up the week with a night contest at Island Crest Park against the Mercer Island Islanders, the fifth of seven “home” contests for Mount Si being played at the opposing field this season. Earlier this season the Wildcats took care of business against MI, 5-1. First pitch on the island under the lights is set for 6:30 p.m.