By Kyle Roberts
BATON ROUGE, La. — Ruston High took a southward trip this past weekend to the annual Jay Patterson shootout where the Bearcats won two on the first two games before dropping both in a double header on Saturday.
The Bearcats would get a win first on Thursday over Destrehan in a 3-0 shutout win, thanks in large part to a complete-game shutout from junior pitcher Tyler Roach.
“He was absolutely dialed in from the start,” Ruston High Head Coach Bryan Beck said. “It was his best outing of the year.”
Ruston got a run in the bottom of the third inning on a line drive single by senior Jackson Lee that scored junior Same Harwell for a 1-0 lead. The ‘Cats got two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth after sophomore Hudson Wilkerson came in to pinch hit and knocked in both seniors Hudson Wood and Michael Brisco for the final 3-0 score.
“(Wilkerson) worked a really good pitch count,” Beck said. “He’s come in for us in a couple of situations and gotten some big pinch hits. That’s good to see from him, especially coming off the big midweek win against Airline.”
Ruston would get a 12-6 win Friday over University Lab after big scoring innings in the first, third, fifth and sixth.
Sophomore Max Pyles got the start on the bump for the Bearcats and struck out three hitters to get the win.
“That’s two big time wins for him,” Beck said. “I’m really happy for him and what he’s done to solidify the number two spot in our rotation.”
Ruston took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first after senior Jackson Burroughs singled on a line drive to score junior JP Moak on a Lab error. Wood then scored in the next Ruston at-bat on a pitching balk with the bases loaded, and then senior Kenden Freeman singled to score Burroughs.
After University Lab tied the game 3-3, Freeman would score in the bottom of the third to retake the lead for the Bearcats at 4-3 on another Lab error. Senior Lander Smith then doubled on a line drive to center field to score Hartwell from third base to go up 5-3.
Senior Nolan Parnell would score on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth to start the Ruston scoring, and then Freeman would score in the next at-bat on a wild pitch to put Ruston up 7-3. Junior Dillon Williams scored after a Lab error for an 8-3 score, and then Moak singled to right field to score Lee for a 9-3 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Hartwell hit a single to center field to score both Tucker Patterson and junior Keilan Davis for an 11-4 score. Smith knocked his second double of the night two batters later to bring Hartwell home for the 12th Ruston run of the night en route to the 12-6 victory.
“Smith had a really good breakout game,” Beck said. “It’s so good to see our catcher producing behind the plate as well as at the plate offensively.”
Ruston then fell in two consecutive games Saturday in a double-header: first 6-5 to Dutchtown and then 7-4 to Mandeville.
“I love a double-header on Saturday on the road early in the season,” Beck said. “It mirrors a playoff atmosphere. (Junior) Colt Lary got the start for us and pitched really well. I may have pulled him too early.”
Ruston was up 3-1 in the top of the fifth inning after Williams singled to bring home Hartwell first, followed by Lee tripling into center field to get Williams home. Moak then singled into center field and brought Lee home for the final run in the stanza.
Dutchtown answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go up 4-3, but Ruston answered to tie 4-4 in the top of the sixth when Hartwell hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Davis with one-out.
Dutchtown again got a go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 5-4, but the Bearcats would tie in the top of the seventh when Burroughs scored Lee on a fielder’s choice. Unfortunately for Ruston, Dutchtown got a walk-off 6-5 win on a single in the bottom of the seventh.
“They’re a really good ball club and we ended up losing that game by one run,” Beck said. “I think just the emotions of the day — knowing you could have gone 3-0 in that tournament and going into game four and losing that game — the kids were down a little bit and it showed against Mandeville a little bit. But I was really proud of our young pitching staff. At that point, we were really thin on arms.”
Ruston took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Williams singled and scored Parnell. The Skippers then scored three in the bottom of the third, but Ruston retook the lead in the top of the fourth on some bad Mandeville pitches first to score both Freeman and Hartwell. Lee then singled to score Williams to put Ruston up 4-3.
Unfortunately for the Bearcats, Mandeville would score four unanswered runs in the remainder of the contest for the 7-4 victory.
“We didn’t want to lose those last two games, but our kids fought really, really hard,” Beck said. “I’m really proud of them.”
The Bearcats hit the road against tonight, though not quite as far, to play an away matchup with Tioga.
“They’ve got a good team, too,” Beck said. “It’ll be our last road game for a while. It’s been a tough stretch the last seven days and six ball games, but our kids have handled it well, and I’m really proud of them.”
