By T. Scott Boatright
Pride, patience and persistence paid off for the Ruston Bearcats Friday night as they won the opener of a best-of-three Division I Nonselect School baseball playoff series.
The Bearcats overcame a sluggish start to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning before roaring to a 13-3 run rule win over Hahnville on RHS Field at the Ruston Sports Complex.
Ruston (24-11) and Hahnville (22-13) will meet again at 1 p.m. Saturday on RHS Field with a third and deciding game to be played around 30 minutes after the end of Game 2 should the Tigers win that contest and force a rubber match.
Bearcats coach Bryan Beck admitted being surprised to see his team’s awkward start.
“I don’t know if it was the nerves, a really nice crowd tonight, not going to school today or what,” Beck said of the Bearcats’ sluggish start. “They were really loose here at pregame. The coaches and I talked about if it was too loose. I didn’t want to jump on them.
Hahnville plated a pair of runs in the top half of the opening stanza before Ruston cut the Tigers’ advantage to 2-1 in the bottom half with Jake Simmons reaching first on a walk before scoring on a double hit by Nolan Parnell.
RHS starting pitcher David Griep gave up those two first-inning HHS runs off of three hits and an error and then gave up another run in the top of the second off of one-hit as the Tigers’ stretched their lead to 2-1.
“We just made some errors early and all of a sudden the nerves seemed to settle in,” Beck said. “But by the middle of the game (Griep’s) pumping it like he’s throwing pregame bullpen. (RHS pitching coach Doc Wilkerson) and I talked about, and with Griep, you really just have to try and stay out of his way. It’s not the best way to go about starting a ballgame, especially a playoff game, but that’s a good ballclub.
“(Hahnsville’s) got some really dangerous hitters in their lineup, and you just don’t want to continue giving the bottom of their lineup the opportunity to flip it to the top, because that’s what happened. We didn’t know where to go with the ball. We couldn’t throw strikes, And boom, we’re down 2-0.”
It could have been worse. Griep faced a bases loaded situation with one out in that first inning but struck out the next two Tigers to prevent any more offensive damage being done by Hahnville.
Carter Love, Dillon Williams and Jackson Lee also singled in the bottom of the second as the Bearcats plated a pair of runs to tie things up at 3-3.
Griep retired all three batters he faced in the top of the third before Ruston regained the lead in the bottom half of the stanza as Simmons tripled before scoring on a sacrifice fly hit by Hudson Wood.
And after that he recorded five strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings before the Bearcats walked it off, scoring four runs in the fourth and five in the fifth for the 10-run rule win, with Peyton Martin knocking in Lee for the final run that sent the Bearcats into celebration.
“Once we got Griep a little bit of cushion, when he gets two or three runs (ahead), the other team isn’t getting those runs back. And that’s what you saw. He really got dialed in and we had a little chaos game and got some guys moving and had a couple of big two out hits.
“Some of our guys made some really good adjustments. Jackson Lee didn’t have a good back (to lead off for Ruston in the bottom of the first inning). We challenged him when he got back to the dugout and he came through. Dillon Williams had a big triple. Peyton Martin had a big two-out hit. And if we can get that kind of play (Saturday) we should have a good chance to get the split and the series.”
Lee and Martin recorded three runs batted in each for Ruston while Williams turned in a two-of-two batting performance with two RBIs and three runs.
Williams was also one of three Bearcats who blasted a triple off the outfield wall along with Lee and Simmons.
“He’s really talented,” Beck said of his sophomore second baseman. “He started earlier in the year for us due to some injuries and internal issues with some guys not being able to handle their (academic) business, and he grew up during that time. And he put up some really good numbers at that time.
“His deal is, when makes a mistake defensively it would affect him offensively. So getting him a start in a playoff game, he’s kind of weathered the storm all year. He’s quietly played a lot of games for us. But when he’s hitting the ball like that, hitting the back side of the field, he’s very hard to get out.”
Griep earned the win for Ruston, giving up only four hits while striking out eight Tigers.
Beck said sophomore Tyler Roach will take the mound for the Bearcats for Game 2.
“He’ll be on the mound for us because we expect him to give us a really good shot,” Beck said. “We know they’ve got a few big lefties in their lineup, but he’s got enough pitches to mix it up on them, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
