By Kyle Roberts
BENTON, La. — Ruston High’s 2025 turnaround season drew to a close Saturday night after falling in the second game of a three-game series to the Benton Tigers 11-5 after losing 10-0 the previous night in the second round of the state playoffs.
The No. 12 Bearcats put together a much more impressive outing against No. 5 Benton in the Saturday matchup after only registering two hits in the opening game of the series. Ruston would be the home team in the second game of the series despite being on the road, and after surrendering a run to the Tigers in the top of the first, the Bearcats responded with a lead off double by junior Jackson Lee. Senior Jake Simmons would follow with a single in the next at-bat, and junior Nolan Parnell added a single right after to score Lee.
Two batters later, sophomore Hunter Soto singled to center field and score Simmons from second base for a 2-1 lead.
Benton, however, responded with two runs in the top of the second to retake the lead 3-2. The Bearcats would put another run up in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game 3-3 after Soto scored on a wild pitch from third base.
The Tigers then added eight total runs over the next three innings to lead 11-3 going into the bottom of the seventh. Ruston put a last ditch effort together with two outs after senior Payton Martin swung his Bearcat bat for the last time for a double to to score both sophomore Sam Hartwell and Davis Demoss for the final score of 11-5.
The season marks more than double the win total from 2024’s campaign for the Bearcats in Ruston High head coach Bryan Becks inaugural season after winning 25 games. After missing the playoffs last year, the Bearcats hosted a first round series last weekend with Hahnville and completed the sweep to advance.
