By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High senior pitcher Carter Love pitched a complete game Saturday afternoon on Alumni Day for the Bearcats (17-6, 5-0 District 2-5A), leading the Firmly Founded to a 12-2 win and district sweep over the Neville Tigers while extending the current win streak to 11 victories in a row.
“Carter went the distance for us, and that was really good to see,” Ruston High head coach Bryan Beck said. “I’ve said multiple times that we need our starting pitching to go deep for us, and he was able to do that. Getting a sweep over the Neville Tigers is a really big deal, and that’s tough to do when you play your opponent three times in three days.
“We were on Spring Break this week, and I thought the kids had really good focus all week. I actually gave them the day off in the middle of the week, and the coaches and I were a little nervous about how that was going to go, but after the Sterlington win, we gave them the day off and had a JV night and the guys showed up and had a big time sweep.”
After Love’s first inning pitching put out all three Neville batters in the top of the frame, Ruston would get a two-RBI single from sophomore John Parker Moak with no outs to score both junior Jackson Lee and senior Peyton Martin for a 2-0 lead. Junior Nolan Parnell then added a double to center field to score Moak and put Ruston up 3-0.
Junior Kenden Freeman grounded out to shortstop later in the inning to score Parnell from third base with two outs. Finally, Lee would hit a single and score freshman Dalen Powell for a 5-0. Junior Hudson Wood would get thrown out at the plate going for home for the third out of the inning.
After a scoreless second inning for both teams, Neville put up two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 5-2. Ruston, however, added five more runs in the bottom of the third, beginning with junior Brooks Brown singling to right field and scoring Powell from third base. Freeman would draw a bases-loaded walk in the next at-bat, with sophomore Davis DeMoss stealing home in the following at-bat to put Ruston up 8-2.
Parnell would get a double later in the inning to score both Freeman and Lee to put Ruston up 10-2.
Ruston would add another run in the bottom of the fifth inning after Moak was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, putting Ruston up 11-2.
The Bearcats would get the final run needed in the bottom of the sixth inning following a lead-off triple by senior Caleb Hampton to right field with Wood getting the walk-off sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Hampton and giving Ruston the win.
Outside of his tremendous pitching, Love also went two-for-three at the plate after batting in the five-spot.
“It was all-around a good performance for Carter,” Beck said. “Just all phases seem to be working well for us right now. And I know I sound redundant when I say it, but I tell our kids, if we can have good starting pitching and hit the baseball in hitting counts and get good barrels, that’s all we’re asking our offense to do.”
Ruston would finished with another double-digit hitting performance — this time for 12 hits on the day, helped in large part by Parnell’s team-leading 3-for-4 at the plate.
“They’re just attacking strikes and putting good swings on the ball,” Beck said. “Good things are happening. Parnell had a really good week, and we’re really happy for him. He came off a leg injury from football, and he’s just a grinder. He’s a utility guy in the infield for us, so he can play third or first or anything like that.”
The Bearcats will have the chance to extend the streak in non-district play at home Monday against Loyola and then Tuesday at Glenbrook. The next district matchup for Ruston will be Alexandria Senior High next weekend.
“We’ll enjoy it for a couple of days, and then it’s right back to tough baseball — that’s how we like it,” Beck said. “We’re ready to make a run toward the second half of the season.”
