by Malcolm Butler
When Cedar Creek junior southpaw Kade Luker is on the bump, he usually doesn’t need much offensive support to get the job done.
So Monday night playing under the lights at JC Love Field at Pat Patterson Park, what Luker got — and helped contribute to — offensively was an embarrassment of riches.
Cedar Creek (3-1) sent 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first as the first 11 reached igniting an 11-run first inning as the Cougars pummeled the Cavaliers (2-1) by the score of 12-0 in a run-rule shortened victory.
The win avenged an 11-0 loss to Calvary Baptist less than a week ago.
“I think tonight our guys were fired up about the venue, being able to come over here and play at Louisiana Tech,” said Cedar Creek head coach Chad Yates. “There were a lot of folks here. I think there were a lot of Ruston fans that stuck around after their game and wanted to see Luker on the bump.
“When he takes the mound, we feel like we are the best team in the state.”
After retiring Calvary Baptist in order in the top of the first inning, Luker started the offensive onslaught against Cavalier starter Grayson Powell with an opposite field single to left field. It was the first of 11 straight base runners for Creek, that included eight hits, two errors, and a fielders choice.
Before Calvary Baptist could blink, the Cavaliers trailed by double figures.
“What a first inning,” said Yates. “Each guy came up and did his part. We were aggressive and had great energy. I think we still had a (bad) taste left in our mouth from last Thursday. Our guys wanted to get back on track.”
The Cougars 11-run first inning included run scoring hits by Ryan Coleman (RBI single), Cason Floyd (RBI single), Noah Smith (3-run triple), and Connor Yates (RBI single) as well as RBIs by Micah Taylor (bases loaded walk), Eli Slocum (RBI grounder to second base), and Brett Bell (RBI groundout to shortstop).
Calvary Baptist made the first of two pitching changes just eight batters into the contest.
“Our response (to last week’s loss) started at practice,” said Luker. “Taking good BP and good ground balls, and just coming out here and competing tonight. We had a good thing going on the mound, and then everyone showed up inning (offensively) which was really good. It was good seeing us barrelling balls up and hitting them hard.”
And with the way Luker was dealing on the mound, the Cavaliers had zero chance of recovering. The LSU commit threw 5.0 scoreless innings, while striking out 11 batters. He allowed only two base runners — a single to right field and a HBP, both coming in the top of the second inning.
He retired the final 10 batters he faced.
“I felt good tonight,” said Luker. “My two seam was working good. And I paired that with a change up. My change up was really good tonight. Being able to throw my curve ball … I got a couple of strikeouts with that which was good. It was a good confidence booster.
“I think the change up was the biggest thing. It was what I worked on in the off-season; getting more depth on the change up. That was a big part (of my success) tonight.”
With Creek already leading 11-0, Luker ripped a triple over the left fielders head in the bottom of the second inning — his third hit of the night — to score Slocum, who had singled with two outs in the frame.
“When you have your seven, eight and nine-hole hitters turning the lineup over like they do … ,” said Yates. “Smith has been blistering the baseball. Taylor turns it. Slocum is a good nine-hole hitter for us. I think we have extra base hits all throughout this lineup.”
Cedar Creek will be at home this Friday and Saturday when they face Riverside and Opelousas Catholic as part of the Trey Altick Tournament.
