By Kyle Roberts
It took only one run Monday night for Ruston High school to get a 1-0 shutout win over Neville in the season opener, thanks in large part to junior pitcher David Griep going six innings and striking out eight batters.
“You can’t ask for a better performance from David,” Ruston High manager Zack Smith said. “We knew he had good stuff. We want him to be in this moment and handle it like a professional. He did that, and then we asked (senior) Peyton Beck to come in and close it.
“We’re just very excited. Listen, man, this team’s going to celebrate. And, every win we’re going to know we’re we’re just going to be excited about it. But we got to get better. We got to get better on the little things and we’re going to do that.”
The Bearcats would score the lone run of the night on a wild pitch when senior Gabe Gaudet crossed the plate with two outs in the bottom of the first.
A pitchers’ duel on both side, Ruston and Neville would only combine for four hits all night at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park on the campus of Louisiana Tech University.
After Griep’s stellar performance, Beck would come in to close the game for the save by striking the final two batters out with runners on first and second base.
Ruston returns to action for a three-game series with Haughton from Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 23.
