By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High (3-1) fired on all cylinders Monday night at J.C. Love Field on the campus of Louisiana Tech University.
Between hitting, scoring and lockdown pitching the the Bearcats downed the Byrd Yellowjackets(0-5) 10-1 after getting runs in nearly every inning played.
Ruston senior pitcher Carter Love got the nod for the mound, pitching three innings and surrendering no hits while striking out three Yellowjackets. Senior Eli Crawford came in for the top of the fourth and struck out one, as well.
“It was an all around really good game for us,” Ruston High head coach Bryan Beck said. “Carter got the start for us tonight as a true two-way for us, both on the mound and batting in the nine-hole spot. We knew we had a pitch count on him, and we wanted to get a good quality start out of him. He really came through for us at the plate, too.
“The bullpen did a great job for us, and we were able to get a lot guys at bats for us. We had some small-ball working, and we let them hit and they produced in some big time runners-on-base situations for us. It was a really good night for us to win the ball game.”
The Bearcats got up early in the bottom of the first inning after senior Jake Simmons reached on an error and scored senior Peyton Martin to take a 1-0 lead.
Ruston scored two more in the bottom of the second after Love hit a line drive into right field to score senior Caleb Hampton. Junior Jackson Lee grounded into a double-play on the next at-bat, which allowed junior Jackson Burroughs to score and lead 3-0 going into the top of the third.
The Bearcats would get four runs total in the bottom of the third inning, starting with Simmons scoring after a groundout by junior Lander Smith. Burroughs would single in the next at-bat, scoring sophomore Dillion Williams. After sophomore Davis DeMoss was entered as a courtesy runner for Burroughs, junior Kenden Freeman would rip a line drive single to centerfield to score DeMoss. Freeman would advance to third base on a wild pitch in the next at-bat for Love, who would then score from third after Love hit a ground ball into left field, giving Ruston a 7-0 lead.
Simmons scored again in the bottom of the fourth inning on a single by Williams, who would then score two batters later thanks to a Burroughs fly ball to left field. Ruston led 9-0 heading into the top of the fifth inning.
Burroughs would hit a sacrifice fly into right field in the bottom of the sixth for the Bearcats’ final run of the night, scoring Williams.
The lone run of the night for Byrd came on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth.
Martin, Williams, Burroughs and Love all finished the game with multiple hits, while Simmons finished the night with two stolen bases.
The Yellowjackets were held to just one hit on the night while committing five errors.
The Bearcats will open the Trey Altick Classic Thursday, Feb. 20, against Hahnville High School. First pitch is set for 5:45 p.m.
“We’re really going to have it cut out for us this weekend,” Beck said. “It’s some really tough teams coming. We have John Curtis, Hahnville, St. Charles-Cathloic, and we’ll close with Captain Shreve. We are going to find out really quick what we have. We’ll have all of pitching ready, and we’re going to have to go out and play our brand of baseball. We can’t make any mistakes, and I think it’s going to be a really good weekend.”
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