3/21/25: Ruston 14, Neville 4
MONROE, La. — Ruston High tallied another one into the win column Friday night after beating Neville 14-4 after six innings to extend the streak to 10 straight games and a perfect start in district play.
“It was another big win for us tonight going on the road and getting a win out at Neville,” Ruston High Head Coach Bryan Beck said. “The kids are playing well and the coaches are coaching well. It’s just a fun time to be a Bearcat.”
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, Ruston (16-6, 4-0 District 2-5A) put three runs on the board in the top of the second inning with junior Jackson Burroughs getting a bunt single and scoring junior Hudson Wood. Junior Jackson Lee would hit a ground ball into centerfield in the next at-bat, scoring senior Carter Love from third base. Senior Peyton Martin added another single afterward to score Burroughs and give Ruston a 3-0 lead.
The Bearcats put up another three-spot in the top of the third inning when sophomore John Parker Moak tripled to right field and scored sophomore Dillion Williams, who doubled in the previous at-bat. Junior Lander Smith then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Moak from third to put the Bearcats up 5-0. Senior Jake Simmons would hit into a fielder’s choice three batters later to score Love and give Ruston the 6-0 lead.
After Neville responded with a four-run bottom of the third inning, the Bearcats plated another runner in the top of the fourth inning with two outs when Moak doubled to center field and scored Martin to go up 7-4.
The Bearcats then tacked on six more runs in the top of the fifth inning — all with two outs. After the ‘Cats loaded the bases, Martin would draw a full count walk and score Simmons. Freshman Dalen Powell would score in the next at-bat on a steal to home, and Moak would get his second double on the night with a fly into left field, scoring both Lee and Martin to go up 11-4. Smith would reach on an error in the next at-bat to score both Wood and Moak for the 13-4 lead.
Ruston would get the final run it needed for the run-rule win in the top of the sixth inning after sophomore Sam Hartwell grounded out to third base to score sophomore Michael Brisco for the 14-4 final score.
Moak led the team in hitting on the night, going 3-for-4 at the play and getting four RBI, while Martin drove home two on the night, as well. As a team, the ‘Cats finished with 13 hits while working 19 players into the lineup and five pitchers on the mound.
“We had a lot of guys play tonight, which was good for us,” Beck said. “We’re trying to look down the road, and hopefully, we’ll make the playoffs and have a good feel of what we want to do in a three-game series with our starting pitching and our bullpen. Although we know want to have good starting pitching, it’s good to know you can go into the bullpen at anytime in any situation and we’re starting to trust certain guys in those situations.”
Senior David Griep got the start, going 2.2 innings and striking out four batters before senior Sam Specht can in for relief for 1.2 innings and two strike outs. Senior Eli Crawford, Lee and sophomore Colt Lary all saw time on the mound, with Lary recording the final out of the game.
“Specht can come in really anytime against anybody and get you out of a jam,” Beck said. “He pitched really well. Crawford also gave us some work tonight — he’ll go again in either the Monday or Tuesday midweek game and start. Then Jackson Lee, our centerfielder — he’s a really good left-handed pitcher who can come in for us and get a lefty batter out, and then Lary got to come in and close it out for us for the last out.”
The team also honored National Down’s Syndrome Day by wearing matching yellow and blue socks, which was after honoring the Bearcat Buddies program the night before.
“That means so much to me and my family — my middle child Billy Jack has Down’s Syndrome, and they love him in the locker room,” Beck said. “And Colt’s sister, Andie — she has that as well. So it was an honor for me to give Colt the ball to get the last out of the game tonight for us. That was great for our kids to be part of.”
The Bearcats and Tigers will play the final game of the three-game series Saturday at 1 p.m. in a home game for Ruston for Alumni Day.
“We’re excited about the chance for a clean sweep,” Beck said.
3/22/25: Ruston 12, Neville 2
By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High senior pitcher Carter Love pitched a complete game Saturday afternoon on Alumni Day for the Bearcats (17-6, 5-0 District 2-5A), leading the Firmly Founded to a 12-2 win and district sweep over the Neville Tigers while extending the current win streak to 11 victories in a row.
“Carter went the distance for us, and that was really good to see,” Ruston High head coach Bryan Beck said. “I’ve said multiple times that we need our starting pitching to go deep for us, and he was able to do that. Getting a sweep over the Neville Tigers is a really big deal, and that’s tough to do when you play your opponent three times in three days.
“We were on Spring Break this week, and I thought the kids had really good focus all week. I actually gave them the day off in the middle of the week, and the coaches and I were a little nervous about how that was going to go, but after the Sterlington win, we gave them the day off and had a JV night and the guys showed up and had a big time sweep.”
After Love’s first inning pitching put out all three Neville batters in the top of the frame, Ruston would get a two-RBI single from sophomore John Parker Moak with no outs to score both junior Jackson Lee and senior Peyton Martin for a 2-0 lead. Junior Nolan Parnell then added a double to center field to score Moak and put Ruston up 3-0.
Junior Kenden Freeman grounded out to shortstop later in the inning to score Parnell from third base with two outs. Finally, Lee would hit a single and score freshman Dalen Powell for a 5-0. Junior Hudson Wood would get thrown out at the plate going for home for the third out of the inning.
After a scoreless second inning for both teams, Neville put up two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 5-2. Ruston, however, added five more runs in the bottom of the third, beginning with junior Brooks Brown singling to right field and scoring Powell from third base. Freeman would draw a bases-loaded walk in the next at-bat, with sophomore Davis DeMoss stealing home in the following at-bat to put Ruston up 8-2.
Parnell would get a double later in the inning to score both Freeman and Lee to put Ruston up 10-2.
Ruston would add another run in the bottom of the fifth inning after Moak was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, putting Ruston up 11-2.
The Bearcats would get the final run needed in the bottom of the sixth inning following a lead-off triple by senior Caleb Hampton to right field with Wood getting the walk-off sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Hampton and giving Ruston the win.
Outside of his tremendous pitching, Love also went two-for-three at the plate after batting in the five-spot.
“It was all-around a good performance for Carter,” Beck said. “Just all phases seem to be working well for us right now. And I know I sound redundant when I say it, but I tell our kids, if we can have good starting pitching and hit the baseball in hitting counts and get good barrels, that’s all we’re asking our offense to do.”
Ruston would finished with another double-digit hitting performance — this time for 12 hits on the day, helped in large part by Parnell’s team-leading 3-for-4 at the plate.
“They’re just attacking strikes and putting good swings on the ball,” Beck said. “Good things are happening. Parnell had a really good week, and we’re really happy for him. He came off a leg injury from football, and he’s just a grinder. He’s a utility guy in the infield for us, so he can play third or first or anything like that.”
The Bearcats will have the chance to extend the streak in non-district play at home Monday against Loyola and then Tuesday at Glenbrook. The next district matchup for Ruston will be Alexandria Senior High next weekend.
“We’ll enjoy it for a couple of days, and then it’s right back to tough baseball — that’s how we like it,” Beck said. “We’re ready to make a run toward the second half of the season.”
