By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — It would have been a homecoming of sorts for Ruston High head baseball coach Bryan Beck Tuesday night to have the chance to go home to play his alma mater.
Mother Nature had other plans, and after a call with Airline’s head coach to discuss a soggy field in Bossier, La., the decision was quickly made to move Tuesday’s contest to Ruston to make sure the game could be played.
And the Bearcats did not disappoint and finished with a 12-9 win, holding the Vikings off after a late game rally, with plenty of Airline Blue and Ruston Red in the stands.
“It ended up being a really good crowd,” Beck said. “They traveled really well, and we had a lot of red in the stands — it was a big win for us. I didn’t feel like we started out well, but we finished and that’s all that matters.”
The Vikings jumped out early to a 5-0 lead after the top of the first inning. Junior Bearcat Lander Smith would hit into a double play in the bottom of the first to score junior Jackson Lee, cutting the Airline lead to 5-1.
After two scoreless innings, Ruston got significant run production in the bottom of the fourth inning with eight total runs. With no outs and bases loaded, sophomore John Parker Moak drove in two runs on a double to left field to score both senior Jake Simmons and Smith. Junior Hudson Wood would single to center on the next at-bat to score freshman Dalen Powell and cut the Viking lead to 5-4.
Ruston got its first lead of the night with a double from Lee, scoring both Wood and sophomore David DeMoss for a 6-5 lead. Simmons added a triple two batters later and knocked in both Lee and sophomore Dillion Williams to put the score at 8-5.
Smith then tripled to right field, scoring Simmons and giving Ruston a 9-5 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, junior Kenden Freeman singled into center field to score Wood for a 10-5 score. Freeman scored on a wild pitch three batters later to give Ruston an 11-5 lead. Smith then took a walk with the bases loaded to score sophomore Michael Brisco, putting Ruston up 12-5. The Vikings rallied in the top to the fourth to score four more and cut the lead to 12-9, but Ruston would hold on for the victory after shutting out the Vikings in the top of the seventh inning.
Wood and Lee both finished with multiple hits on the night, while Smith, Lee, Simmons and Moak all finished with two RBI’s apiece.
Smith, Lee, Wood and Simmons also all finished with a triple in the game, as well.
“Wood had a really good night for us at the plate,” Beck said. “He’s a kid that has a lot of baseball potential that just hasn’t played much at this level yet. We’ve been getting him a lot of reps with junior varsity, and he is a really good hitter. We got good hits with runners in scoring position, and we’ve been waiting on that to happen.
“Lee also had a really good night — when he gets on base, he’s kind of a catalyst for our offense. We played a little bunt game, and he was able to get an infield hit off a bunt. We got hits with bases loaded, and you have to do that against good teams, especially with the schedule we play.”
Sophomore Colt Lary got the start before senior Sam Specht came in to pitch four innings.
“Colt got his first varsity start, and it didn’t go well in the first — but we didn’t help him,” Beck said. “We made a big error with bases loaded. Specht came in for the second inning and pitched well to get us back into the game and shut those guys down.”
Ruston will head down to the Jay Patterson Shootout in Baton Rouge and will play Destrehan Thursday, Feb. 27, at 4 p.m.
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