By T. Scott Boatright
Ruston senior pitcher David Griep pitched a strong game Friday night as RHS played host to West Monroe.
But unfortunately for the Bearcats, Rebels’ pitcher Drew Ferguson was even stronger in this pitchers’ duel as West Monroe held off Ruston 3-1.
The Bearcats (23-10, 7-3 in District 2-5A) will now return to West Monroe, where they lost to the Rebels 9-4 Thursday, to close out regular season play with the third game of the series against WMHS (23-7 overall and 10-0 in district action starting at 1 p.m. today.
“We bunted on them in the middle of the game and got a guy on, but we need stuff to happen with our leadoff guy for us to get going,” Beck said. “We just couldn’t get anything going. We brought some big guys end toward the end to try to get one out of the ballpark. They just don’t give up many barrels. They’re just a really good ball club.
“And now we have to get on the bus and go over there again tomorrow. If this was a playoff it’d be over. But it’s not. So, we’re going to go over there and end our (regular) season with a win. And I think if our kids keep fighting the way they are, we’re going to be OK.”
Griep went the distance on the mound and gave up only four hits in the contest, but wasn’t helped by his offense, not to mention two costly errors by the Bearcats.
“He had a good outing but really didn’t have his best stuff,” Beck said about Griep. “But he fought hard and that’s all we ask — for our starting pitchers to get out there and fight and give us a chance to get something going offensively. And he did that. He worked through a lot of traffic during the game. We made some errors behind him. I think he ended up walking the three-hole guy four times.
“But they gave up three runs. I mean, his stuff is good enough to where he can work through that kind of traffic and give you a chance. We just didn’t handle another good pitcher well again. I thought that early we actually hit some barrels pretty good just right at them. But when those balls start finding the hole, it’s tough to get momentum against a team with a pitcher like that.”
West Monroe took the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning off of two hits.
The second run that inning came off a close play where it looked like the Bearcats would get the out on a groundout, except the throw pulled the first baseball off the bag, allowing the Rebels to add a second run.
West Monroe added a run in the top of the fourth as the first two batters walked to set up a sacrifice fly to left field to plate another baserunner.
Ruston’s lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning as leadoff batter Jackson Lee walked, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice grounder by Peyton Martin and finally scored when Jacob Simmons slapped a double into right-center.
But the Bearcats never found any kind of offensive groove. After West Monroe senior pitcher and LSU-commit Bradyn Cuprit recorded 10 strikeouts on Thursday, Ferguson followed by fanning six Bearcats on Friday while giving up only three hits.
“We’ve played some teams and seen some teams in the top five of the power rankings that might have one (outstanding pitcher), but they don’t have two guys like West Monroe does,” Beck said. “West Monroe, because of their strength of schedule and who they play, are really hidden in the power rankings. But that’s a Top 5 ball club right there. Maybe a Top 3 ball club with those two arms. Those two arms can beat anybody in the state and win a series with a limited amount of offense behind that.
“So, nobody wants to play those guys. But we feel really good about our draw in the playoffs and I don’t think we’re going to face two quality starters like West Monroe has back-to-back in our first-round game. Obviously as you move deeper into the playoffs, you can find those kinds of arms. But a lot of teams don’t have two arms like that. And they’ve got a guy going tomorrow, the Frey guy (Rebels pitcher Garrett Frey) that’s going to go to South Ark. He is a great high school pitcher. They’re always built with great pitching and are really well-coached and I believe they’re a top five program in the state even though the power rankings might not say that.”
So now Ruston focuses on trying to end the regular season with a win and build some momentum heading into the playoffs.
“We’re going to keep doing what we do,” Beck said. “We’re very disciplined at the plate and we try to swing at strikes and try to get barrels. Sometimes going 0-4 (at the plate) doesn’t tell you the whole story. You get some barrels in there, and a couple drop, then you’ve gone 2-for-4 and you get things going.
“So, I was pleased overall early in the game with some barrels we hit, but we just couldn’t get them to fall, and that’s baseball.”
