GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland baseball team just might be back to playing at the championship level as last year.

On the way to reaching that high level, the Dutchmen beat some very good teams.

After losing four games in a row — three of them non-league — the Dutchmen have won five of their last six games.

Guilderland started the week with two big Suburban Council wins over Saratoga, 3-2, and Niskayuna, 7-5. The Dutchmen wrapped up the week with another league win, 13-9, over Averill Park on Monday.

In between was the Clarkstown South Tournament where the Dutchmen faced the best teams they’ll play this year.

“It was a good weekend; the kids played well,” said Guilderland Coach Doug LaValley. “We actually could have won the whole thing. But I am happy with the way we played.”

Guilderland traveled on Friday and then played Tottenville of Staten Island in the first round of the tournament. Tottenville had a 52-9 record last season and was ranked 25^th in the nation in 2007. This year, the Pirates had a 10-1 record in the Public School Athletic League in New York City.

The Dutch followed up the 10-7 win over Tottenville with an even bigger win over George Washington High School of Manhattan.

The Trojans had a 33-0 record heading into the contest with Guilderland and were ranked 11^th in the country by USA Today.

The Dutchmen lost the championship game of the tournament to the host team, 5-4.

Guilderland led Clarkstown South, 3-0, and had the bases loaded in the fourth inning. A double play with one out ended the inning and Clarkstown South came back for the win.

“Big-time win”

“It was a heck of a ball game,” LaValley said. “It felt like sectionals. The last two games were pretty good as well.”

Against George Washington, senior lefthander Jason Westervelt was the star.

Westervelt pitched a complete game, allowing just two runs and three hits as the Dutchmen won, 6-2.

“He threw the ball well,” LaValley said. “He had six walks…But he had two walks in the same inning. He was in the zone a lot more than against Massapequa.

“It was a big-time win,” LaValley added. “I’m proud of the way the kids played.”

Pat Quinn had two doubles to back Westervelt.

Against Tottenville, the game was tied, 3-3, when the Pirates scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Guilderland came back with six runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 9-7 lead. The Dutch added one more run and held on for the win.

“We had an error in the fourth inning that led to all their runs,” LaValley said. “They only had three earned runs off of us and we had 12 hits.”

Kyle LaValley started and got the win on the mound. He pitched five innings before Ethan Slupski started the sixth inning.

Slupski got two outs then C.J. Sohl came in and got the last four outs of the game to earn the save.

Steve Anderson hit a triple and a single to knock in four runs. Jimmy Quinn had a double and a single and three runs batted in. Ivan Plata added two singles and scored three runs for the Dutchmen.

LaValley thinks that playing well in a tournament with very good teams will help his ball club in the long run. But he is also focused on getting his team into the sectional tournament.

“We need one more win to qualify for the sectionals,” LaValley said.

The Dutchmen have a 10-6 overall record and a 6-2 league mark.

“We’re just playing,” LaValley said. “We’re not practicing. I’d rather play. It’s keeping us sharp.”

The Dutch players have learned from the slump they suffered at the mid-season point.

“They know what they can do,” LaValley said. “They have to go out and play. There’s not much you can teach them now. Players win games and they just have to go out and play.”