Runnels routs Pitkin in quarterfinals

• By ROBIN FAMBROUGH
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:38 a.m.

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Baseball scouting reports are not always reliable. Pitkin coach Wade Merchant said his scouting report on top-seeded Runnels was right on the mark.

And so were Raiders, who pounded out 13 hits, including a grand slam by Lance Neyland, in a 10-2 victory over Pitkin in a Class B quarterfinal game played Monday at Runnels.

“Our scouting report was right,” Merchant said. “It said they throw strikes and they beat you with their bats. That’s exactly what they did.

“Runnels is the best hitting Class B team I’ve seen by far this year. We’ve been hitting the ball well, but for some reason our bats fell silent today. Theirs didn’t.”

With the victory, Runnels (22-6-2) advances to play District 8-B rival Bethany Christian in Class B semifinal set for Friday at Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A-B-C Tournament in Alexandria. It marks the third straight tourney appearance for the Raiders, who were the Class B runner-up last spring.

Sean Root (11-0) pitched 51/3 innings to pick up the win. Davenport came on to strike out three of the five batters he faced. Neyland finished 3-for-5 at the plate with five runs batted in, including the grand slam in the bottom of the sixth that put the game out of reach.

Garrett Butler also had three hits for the winners. Alex Faucheux, Davenport and Root all had two hits each. Losing pitcher Chase Johnson (7-4) was 2-for-3 for the Tigers with a solo home run in the top of the sixth. Trevor West’s solo homer gave PHS its only other run.

“He (Neyland) has been doing that all year,” Runnels coach Tookie Johnson said. “It seems like the other guys wear down the pitcher. He’s the one that gets the knock out punch.”

Butler walked and Neyland singled to start Runnels’ offensive efforts in the bottom of the first. A two-RBI single by Davenport gave the Raiders the lead.

Pitkin pulled to within a run on West’s solo home run to left in the third.

Runnels added two more runs in the bottom of the third. Root had an RBI single in the inning and the Raiders led 4-1.

“We knew from our scouting report that Pitkin had some guys who were capable of hitting the ball out of the park,” Johnson said. “Our goal was to keep runners off base as much as possible so that when they did hit it, there wouldn’t be a big inning.”

After Johnson’s home run in the top of the sixth, Davenport came on and retired two batters to end the inning.