Snapping a five-game losing streak against a league opponent has to feel good. It just might not feel as good to turn around and lose to that same opponent thirty minutes later.

That's what the De Soto baseball team did Tuesday night at home, when it beat Paola, 6-1, in the first game of a doubleheader before dropping the nightcap, 9-6.

Brady Maasen turned in a gem of a performance at the rubber in game one, giving up the one run in the seventh inning of a complete-game effort. He totaled 13 strikeouts.

"He threw a heck of a game," coach Joel Thaemert said.

Erik Hill was 2 for 3 in the game, with a line drive triple to centerfield in the second inning. Eric Buffkin and Shane Miller also had two hits.

The Wildcats had a chance for the night to end with another victory when it loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the seventh inning of game two. Previously in the game Travis Crow brought De Soto to within three runs with a two-RBI single in the sixth.

After Dylan Burford worked a scoreless top half of the seventh, De Soto started to build a rally.

Erik Hill got a leadoff walk, Paul Oswald hit a chopper that cleared the third baseman and Lyle Logan got hit by a pitch to set the table in the seventh. After a Paola pitching change, Eric Buffkin, Dylan Burford and Jerin Riffel went down in order - two pop-outs to the pitcher and a strikeout - stranding the De Soto base runners and moving the Wildcats' record to 3-6.

"They competed a lot better (than over the weekend), no question," Thaemert said. "We were a lot more aggressive at the plate. Our big guys are hitting. Buffkin had some hits and Erik had some hits."

Crow had three RBIs in the second game, while Paul Oswald had two hits.

"We're just getting more confident," Crow said. "We've been working at practice on protecting with two strikes and more people are swinging, fouling pitches off, battling, being competitors at the plate."

Tommy Elmer pitched five innings for De Soto and gave up five runs.

"Tommy threw well," Thaemert said. "He was pretty effective, but we have to make plays. Buffkin did a good job behind the plate tonight, he blocked a lot of balls."

The split came after a rough weekend for De Soto in a tournament it hosted. It was called the Frontier/Kaw Baseball Challenge I, a tournament composed of three teams from each league. From the Frontier League were De Soto, Gardner-Edgerton and Ottawa. From the Kaw League were Lansing, Piper and Mill Valley.

Friday Piper beat De Soto 19-2 and out-hit the Wildcats, 14-2. De Soto also had three errors.

"(We) did not play well in any phase," Thaemert said.

Saturday in their first game, the Wildcats outplayed Lansing offensively, seven hits to two, yet lost, 5-3. All five of Lansing's runs were scored in the fourth inning.

An 11-0 loss to Mill Valley closed out the tournament for De Soto.

"Coach has instilled in us that we need to compete," Crow said. "So more of us gave it all we had. Last week we kind of gave up, so it wasn't very good."

The Wildcats play Wellsville Thursday at home.