Nate Rutherford may not have needed much support Thursday afternoon, but the Bryant Blacksox pitcher received plenty in the opening round of the American Legion Mid-South Regional.
Rutherford allowed four singles while his teammates banged out 13 hits in a 9-1 victory over Retif Oil of New Orleans at Vince DeSalvo Stadium in North Little Rock.
The Blacksox, who advance to play the Midwest City (Okla.) Outlaws in tonight’s second round, also backed Rutherford with a solid defensive showing, giving the Louisiana state champions few opportunities to score.
“If I don’t pitch for a team with a great defense, I wouldn’t be pitching anymore,” said Rutherford, who had only two strikeouts in his 7 2/3 innings. “I’d be home sitting on the couch.”
The Blacksox (43-4) were anything but couch potatoes Thursday. Eight of Bryant’s starters had base hits, including two each from Trevor Ezell, Hayden Lessenberry and Korey Thompson.
Ezell, who had three triples in the first two games of the Arkansas state tournament last week, broke open the game with a two-run triple in the fourth inning. Lessenberry singled in a run in the third inning and doubled in a run in the seventh. Thompson was 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and laid down two sacrifice bunts.
Rutherford, however, was dominant on the mound, allowing only one single through the first six innings.
Rutherford played mainly as a closer for Arkansas Tech during the spring, and Retif Oil Manager Joe Latino said that may have played into Thursday’s outcome.
“In terms of experience, I certainly think it does,” said Latino, whose team fell to 23-12. “[Rutherford] showed some poise. In the few times we did get him into a little bit of trouble, he showed some maturity and a lot of composure. That experience came into play.”
“He pitched really well until the fourth inning, and I think the humidity and the sweaty conditions got to him a little bit,” Bryant Manager Darren Hurt said. “But he settled down and got us into the eighth inning.”
Rutherford allowed only one walk through the first three innings as the Blacksox built a 4-0 lead, but two walks and a single put the Louisiana champions in a position to get back into the game.
Retif Oil’s Scott Crabtree hit into a fielder’s choice to drive in his team’s lone run. Rutherford then picked off Crabtree at first for the second out and got Brandon Briuglio to line out to center for the inning’s final out.
The Louisiana champions loaded the bases in the seventh thanks to an error, a single and a hit batter, but Rutherford worked out of the jam by inducing a double-play grounder from Ben Hess.
Devon Dupree pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, retiring all four batters he faced.
Dalton Holt drove in a run with a single in the seventh, and Drew Tipton capped the scoring with a double in the eighth.
Bryant;013 201 110 — 9 13 1
New Orleans;000 100 000 — 1 4 2
Rutherford, Dupree (8) and Lessenberry. Burk, Hornung (4) and Forshag. W — Rutherford. L — Burk.
MIDWEST CITY (OKLA.) 10, PITTSBURG (KAN.) 3
Josh Rolette broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh with a two-out double and Jarod Price and Corey Zangari homered to lead the Oklahoma champions to a first-round victory.
Winning pitcher Tanner Andrews entered the game with one out in the fourth inning and gave up one hit the rest of the way. Andrews retired 16 of 18 batters he faced, including the final 10 in a row. Andrews struck out seven and walked one.
Garrett Wages started Midwest City’s rally in the seventh with a double.
After a groundout and a walk to Justin McGregor, Rolette hit a line shot that popped out of the glove of Pittsburg center fielder Colton Gilbert, who was attempting to make a running catch.
Taking advantage of four errors in the eighth inning, Midwest City sent 10 batters to the plate for a five-run inning.
Cameron Warren drove in two runs for the Oklahoma champions. Wages was the only Midwest City batter to collect two hits, going 2 for 4. Christian Cedeno was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI for Pittsburg, which also picked up a sacrifice fly from Austin Kratz.
Luke Marquardt also had two hits for the Kansas team.
Kansas;120 000 000 — 3 4 4
Oklahoma;210 000 25x — 10 8 2
Richardson, Sprangler (8) and Bianarelli. Tillison, Andrews (4) and Rolette. W — Andrews. L — Richardson. HR — Oklahoma: Jarod Price, Corey Zangari.
TUPELO (MISS.) 49ERS 2 JEFFERSON CITY, MO., 1
Chase Cernigliaro singled to score Tucker Jenkins in the fifth inning and the 49ers held on for a first-round victory.
Collin McCrory allowed six hits — all singles — in seven innings to pick up the victory. He struck out five and walked five. Blake Wigginton worked a perfect ninth to pick up the save.
Trevor Schnieders drove in a run with single in the first inning to give Jefferson City a 1-0 lead. Schnieders went 2 for 4.
Tupelo tied the game in the second on back-to-back doubles by Ty Wheeler and Cody Pate.
Corey Beard took the loss for Jefferson City, giving up 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3.
Missouri;100 000 000 — 1 6 2
Mississippi;010 010 00x — 2 8 0
Beard, Bowles (8) and Bax. McCrory, Wiggington (9) and Williams. W — McCrory. L — Beard.