By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — A complete-game performance with six strikeouts by sophomore Tyler Roach led the Ruston Bearcats (21-8, 6-1 District 2-5A) over the Pineville Rebels (11-13, 2-5 District 2-5A) by a final score of 4-2.
But the story of the game was a scary moment near the end of seventh inning, when sophomore John Parker Moak was injured diving for a ball after going for one of the last outs of the game in a midfield collision with a teammate. Moak was on the ground for several minutes before being transported out by an ambulance.
“At the end of the day, the score doesn’t matter as long as he’s okay,” Ruston High head coach Bryan Beck said. “Obviously, our hearts and prayers and thoughts are with him and his family. It just says a lot about the kid. You never want anybody to get hurt by playing a game. But these guys are really tough, and they go really hard. He could’ve easily pulled up for the ball, and he was going out with everything he had in his body to try to end the game for his pitcher.
“It says a lot about our ball club — how tough they are and what they’re willing to do for each other. We’ve got word that he’s going to be okay, and we’re really just thankful that God had his guardian angels on the field tonight to make sure he’s okay. That’s what’s it’s really about at the end of the day.”
After a scoreless first inning for the Rebels, Ruston High junior Nolan Parnell singled to third base to score freshman Dalen Powell from third base. Senior Jake Simmons then reached on an error in the next at-bat which scored both Parnell and senior Carter Love for a 3-0 lead.
Pineville would then have another scoreless inning in top of the second, and Ruston would get its last needed run of the game with a single by junior Jackson Lee, scoring senior Peyton Martin who reached after a triple to lead off the inning.
Neither team would plate a run until Pineville’s two in the top of the seventh inning, keeping Ruston ahead for a 4-2 win after Moak’s tough injury.
“Our kids are locking arms and finding a way to finish a ball game,” Beck said. “But man, it’s just tough to on high school kids to have to go out and finish a game after seeing one of their brothers get carted off in an ambulance. My hat is off to our kids, our coaches, our trainer (Chris Brister) and our principal (Dan Gressett) — it was just an all-around good effort for everybody involved to make sure that a Ruston High student athlete was getting the best care he could get. He had a lot of good hands around him tonight, but the most important one was God.
“We prayed together, and Pineville came over and pray with our team — what a class act. Our hat’s off to (Pineville head coach) Cullen Guerriero to send his club over to do that with our kids, because at the end of the day, the game and score doesn’t really matter in that situation.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to return to action today in the second game of the series at Pineville.
“It’ll be tough to try to refocus and get on the road,” Beck said. “But that’s what we’ll have to do for game two.”
