The New Iberia Holiday Sporting Goods Cajuns wanted to schedule a few games that would provide them with some good competition in preparation for the upcoming American Legion sub-regional tournament.

The Westgate Wildcats gave the Cajuns all they could handle Friday night at Westgate High School, getting the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning before finally bowing to New Iberia, 4-3.

“Right now with sub-regional right around the corner, we’re looking to play some competitive games,” said Cajuns coach Shane Faucheaux. “We definitely found one with Westgate, that’s for sure.”

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New Iberia (17-6-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Cody Bourque’s two-run double and made it 3-0 in the second inning. The Wildcats answered with single runs in the bottom of the second and third innings to pull to within 3-2, and each team scored a run in the sixth.

“It was close,” said Wildcats coach Kenneth Bashay. “We saw some of the things we wanted to see. We saw some kids get better, and we saw some kids who need to get better.

“At the end of the day we played a very good ballclub to one run.”

Coby Landry got the win for the Cajuns, while Tyler Froisy, the first of five Wildcats pitchers, took the loss. Kyle Hoffpauir closed for New Iberia.

“I was pleased with the pitching,” said Bashay. “We didn’t nibble at it. We wanted to keep (the pitches) down and not give up the long ball, and we did that.”

Bourque also walked three times in addition to his two-run double. Jordan Abney singled, walked and scored twice, Hunter Crochet drew a walk and scored a run, Richie Mouret singled and scored a run, Matt Geoffroy had a double and drew a walk and Erick Huval had a double and an RBI. Zane Migues also walked twice for New Iberia.

“If there’s one thing I was a little disappointed with, we didn’t create offense,” said Faucheaux. “We had guys in scoring position all night, and we didn’t get the hit to create some space.”

Though the Cajuns didn’t score a lot, Bashay said, they did keep the pressure on the Wildcats all night.

“I think their speed was the difference tonight,” Bashay said. “They got good reads on the basepath, and good jumps on us. They kept the pressure on us.”

Jared Williams went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run for the Wildcats (5-2). Diontae Spencer, who pitched two innings in relief, singled, scored and drove in a run.

Reginald Charles doubled and scored a run, and Colby Cook singled.

The Wildcats resume junior Legion play Monday against New Iberia at Acadian Ballpark. The District 3-Central runner-up Cajuns travel to Franklin on Monday and are trying to schedule games Tuesday and Thursday against district champion Abbeville as a tuneup for the sub-regional.