Barbour shines in Louisburg victory over Chanute

By Andy Brown
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Updated: May 5, 2025

***Louisburg junior Bristol Barbour earned the win on May 3 over Chanute with eight strikeouts. He also homered in the 11-3 victory.***

Bristol Barbour did a little bit of everything for the Louisburg baseball team during the Wildcats’ home contest on May 3 against Chanute.

Barbour not only earned the win with an 8-strikeout performance on the mound, he also collected three hits — including a home run — to guide the Wildcats to an 11-3 victory over the Blue Comets at Lewis-Young Park.

The Louisburg junior put together five innings on the mound and allowed just two earned runs on five hits to go along with the eight strikeouts.

At the plate, Barbour recorded a 3-hit performance, which not only included a home run, but a bunt single as well. He also drove home three runs.

“Bristol did really well all around,” Louisburg coach Kade Larson said. “He threw a ton of strikes and created a ton of weak contact. He also got it done at the plate. Being able to bunt for a hit, and then hit a home run the next at bat, is pretty difficult and he made it look easy.”

It was a much-needed pick-me-up for the Wildcats after suffering a tough loss earlier in the week to Anderson County. However, as easy as the win was against Chanute, it didn’t start that way.

Chanute scored two runs in the top of the first to take an early lead, but the Wildcats answered right back with three in the bottom of the inning. The Blue Comets added a run in the third to tie it, but the Wildcats scored eight unanswered runs the rest of the way to seal the win.

“It was good to get out there on Saturday and fix some issues we had from the Thursday game,” Larson said. “The guys responded well and found a way to get the job done.”

***Louisburg senior Carter Willey makes contact for a base hit against Chanute on May 3.***

Louisburg pounded out 14 hits on the day and worked around three errors to get the win.

Wildcat senior Luke Schultz also had a big day with two doubles and an RBI. Meade Rutherford and Carter Willey also had two hits.

Jayce Toms and Evan Moreland each had an RBI double in the victory.

Junior Christian Owens pitched the final two innings of relief for the Wildcats and shut down the Blue Comets with just one hit allowed and had five strikeouts.

Louisburg will try and continue its winnings ways on May 6 when the Wildcats travel to Eudora for a doubleheader.

Wildcats lose home contest to Anderson County

In what was originally supposed to be a doubleheader, Louisburg’s contest with Anderson County on May 1 turned into a single game due to scheduling conflicts.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they didn’t get a chance to make up for what was a tough first game. Louisburg committed five errors, which led to a 5-4 loss to the Bulldogs.

Anderson County scored the winning run in the top of the sixth inning to pull ahead for good. Louisburg had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Wildcats struck out twice and grounded out to end the threat.

“We have some mistakes we have to clean up,” Larson said. “We didn’t play a clean game and allowed them to hang around. We kept battling and gave ourselves a chance at the end but just couldn’t get the job done.”

Seniors Meade Rutherford and Alex Saad split time on the mound and allowed just one earned run between the two of them to go along with nine strikeouts.

Rutherford also had a big night at the plate with two hits, including a 2-run home run in the third to give the Wildcats an early 2-1 lead.