By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High (4-4) took one of three this past weekend in the 2026 Trey Altick Classic with a run-rule win over Hahnville Thursday and then losses to both Walker and St. Charles Catholic on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“It was a long week for us,” Ruston High Head Coach Bryan Beck said. “It started out really good Monday night in against Captain Shreve after picking up that win at Tech. We opened with the Trey Altick playing Hahnville — they’re a really good baseball team.”
Ruston beat the Tigers Thursday 13-3 after six innings, thanks in large part to timely hitting by the team and great pitching by sophomore Max Pyles.
“Our starting pitching was really good,” Beck said. “He got the nod and did really, really good. I’m really happy for him getting his first career varsity win. We were firing on all cylinders that day.”
The Bearcats put up 15 total hits, which included a double and a triple from senior Jackson Lee and a double from senior Jackson Burroughs. Ruston put up six runs in the first two innings and then seven more runs in innings four through six.
Burroughs singled in the bottom of the first to score Lee to put Ruston up 1-0. The ‘Cats added five runs in the second after senior Kenden Freeman first scored on a passed ball for a 2-0 lead. Junior JP Moak then singled into left field to score junior Hunter Soto, and Lee would score again thanks to a single by senior Hudson Wood to go up 4-0.
A few batters later, Moak would score on a wild pitch, and then Wood would score on Burroughs’ double and put Ruston up 6-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Freeman would get a single to center field and score senior Nolan Parnell from second base. Hahnville would get its first run of the day in the top of the fifth, but Ruston would get back up 8-1 after Lee scored on a Wood ground out.
The Tigers scored two in the top of the sixth before the Bearcats got their next five in the bottom of the inning. Tucker Patterson scored on a dropped third strike by the Hahnville catcher, and two batters later, senior Lander Smith scored Williams on a bunt single for a 10-3 lead. Lee then tripled after a Tiger pitching change to score junior Sam Hartwell, and Moak ended the game with a single to score Lee for the 13-3 win.
Pyles struck out five batters on the day. Both Soto and freshman Tristan Nassar came in for relief to secure the win after six innings.
On Friday, the Bearcats lost 4-1 to Walker despite a solid pitching performance by junior Tyler Roach on the bump.
“Saturday, the cylinders stopped firing,” Beck said. “We had six errors on the day. Tyler Roach, did an incredible job to keep us in the ball game. Most of the game, the score was 1-0, and we couldn’t give him any run support and we were throwing the ball around the yard.”
Roach pitched into the sixth inning and was pulled due to pitch count after striking out five runners and giving up no earned runs. Lee added another double to his total and junior Dillon Williams had a run-batted in in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game 1-1. Walker would score three more runs in the top of the seventh to win 4-1.
Ruston’s offense struggled again on Saturday in a 3-0 loss to St. Charles Catholic final day of the Trey Altick classic, with the Bearcats only able to get three hits on the day.
“They are a really good opponent,” Beck said. “They’re a state championship program. Our starting pitcher (junior Colt) Lary had another incredible outing. We just went cold at the plate. We couldn’t get runners on and ran ourselves out of innings. We’ll have to get that cleaned up and get back to work.”
Beck added that he is pleased overall with how his starting pitchers have performed through the first eight games.
Ruston will now be on the road for the next five games: at Airline Tuesday, and then down in Baton Rouge for the Jay Patterson Shootout. The Bearcats will play Destrehan on Thursday and University Lab on Friday, and then will play a double-header against Dutchtown and Mandeville.
“We’ll find out what we’re made up before we head back up to Ruston after those five days,” Beck said in conclusion.
“We’ll need to pack a lunch for sure.”
