By Kyle Roberts
Ruston High (2-7) picked up a 4-3 win over Benton High School on Tuesday before losing four in last week’s non-district matchups in the Trey Altick Tournament at home over the weekend.
“We played some really good pitching,” Ruston High head coach Zack Smith said. “Benton’s got some good arms. I thought we handled ourselves fairly well against them. But we needed some good arms. We got Peyton Beck to come in and close it out. Which was a big win for us.”
The Bearcats, however, would not get a win over the weekend tournament.
“There are no excuses,” Smith said. “We just didn’t play well. We didn’t pitch well. We didn’t play good defense. We didn’t hit well. So there aren’t going to be excuses for us. We’ve got to get better and we got to find some guys in there to produce for us. It might take us another week here in the East Ascension Tournament to figure out those roles. We’re trying to be patient and, hopefully, find some guys and produce for us.”
Below are some highlights from last week.
Tuesday, Feb. 27 – Ruston 4, Benton 3
Ruston would get the lead it needed in the top of the fifth when junior Peyton Martin scored on a passed ball. Junior Talan Billberry would start for Ruston and struck out two batters. Beck came in to pitch the final two innings and struck out five batters.
Thursday, Feb. 29 – Central 9, Ruston 2
Central would get the win after scoring in every inning except for the first. Ruston’s two runs came in the bottom of the second on a pair of walks.
Friday, March 1 – St. Charles Catholic 6, Ruston 5
Despite a furious rally, in the sixth and seventh innings, Ruston would not be able to overcome a five-run top of the fourth from St. Charles Catholic. Ruston scored two runs in both the sixth and seventh and fell by one run. Sophomore Jackson Lee would finished with two hits and two runs batted in.
Saturday, March 2 – Brusly 11, Ruston 2
Ruston would get two runs in the bottom of the third courtesy of junior Jake Simmons homering to right field, scoring senior Jacoryian Crowe.
Saturday, March 2 – Captain Shreve 7, Ruston 3
Captain Shreve would get out to a 6-0 lead after the first three innings and added a seventh run in the top of the seventh. Ruston would score three in the bottom of the seventh, but it would not be enough. Simmons would notch a triple in the inning to score Crowe.
Ruston returns to action tonight at Byrd.
