EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of three articles about how local athletes fared for their college teams during the spring sports season. Graduates of Lake Hamilton will be featured on Wednesday.
A number of former Lakeside student-athletes found success for their college programs as underclassmen or upperclassmen this spring.
Bo Ritter
Lakeside alum Bo Ritter turned in the best year of his career in his senior season for the Arkansas State Red Wolves (20-32, 11-19 Sun Belt Conference). He ranked second on the team with a 3.89 ERA in 41 2/3 innings pitched over a team-leading 22 appearances.
Only junior Peyton Culbertson (2-5, 3.73 ERA) ranked higher on Arkansas State's pitching staff. Ritter was 1-1 with four saves as the team's top relief pitcher.
Ritter had 33 strikeouts to just nine walks, which was the least among all pitchers on the staff to throw at least 10 innings. His .244 opponents' batting average was the lowest among all pitchers on the staff to throw at least 12 innings.
His record and ERA improved from 1-0 and 6.75 in his freshman season in 10 appearances to 2-1 and 5.67 as a sophomore with 14 appearances in 2016. Ritter was 2-2 with a 6.95 ERA and four saves as a junior in 2017 over 44 innings pitched in 18 appearances.
Arkansas State's season ended with a 5-4 loss in 10 innings to Texas-Arlington (22-35, 11-19) in the first round of the Sun Belt tournament in Lafayette, La.
Carter West
Lakeside graduate Carter West's batting average surged upward through the second half of the season for North Arkansas College (15-31) in Harrison. He was a freshman infielder this season for the Pioneers in the National Junior College Athletic Association's Division III.
West played sparingly in the Pioneers' first seven games in February. He hit .333 in March with four home runs, 11 runs, 24 RBIs and eight walks for a .417 on-base percentage and .571 slugging percentage.
The Pioneers were 7-6 in April, including a five-game win streak, with West hitting .526. He had three home runs, eight runs, 13 RBIs and seven walks for a .635 on-base percentage and .974 slugging percentage.
West finished his first season in Harrison with a .369 average, nine home runs, 28 runs scored, 44 RBIs, 18 walks, an on-base percentage of .477 and a .689 slugging percentage in 43 games, according to numbers reported to the NJCAA.
Erick Aguirre, Brandon Hall
Lakeside alumni Erick Aguirre, freshman, and Brandon Hall, sophomore, were listed at catcher and infielder, respectively, this season for Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, which reported a record of 5-38 in Division 1 of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The Buffaloes only reported stats for the first nine games of the season to the NJCAA and did not update the team's schedule or statistics online. Aguirre and Hall each had a .111 batting average through the first nine games.
Hall ranked third on the team in at-bats and played in each of the first nine games. Aguirre played in seven of the first nine games.
Logan DeRosier, Jon Youngblood
Lakeside alum Logan DeRosier completed his senior baseball season for the Henderson State Reddies (30-20, 21-12 Great American Conference) in Arkadelphia this spring, while Jon Youngblood redshirted his second season on campus.
Youngblood had a 6.35 ERA in 11 1/3 innings pitched over nine appearances as a freshman in 2017.
DeRosier threw nine innings over eight appearances this season, last appearing against Southwestern Oklahoma State (24-24, 17-14) on April 14. He previously played for Coffeyville Community College in Kansas before transferring to Henderson.
The Reddies won one out of three games in the 2018 GAC Baseball Championship tournament in Enid, Okla., to finish the season ranked No. 10 in the NCAA Division II Central region. The top eight teams received bids to the Magnolia Regional at Southern Arkansas.
Race Tittle
Race Tittle, a 2017 Lakeside graduate, did not feature in his first season on campus for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (20-25, 12-10 Southwestern Athletic Conference). The right-hander signed as a pitcher for the Golden Lions.
Pine Bluff was eliminated, 14-13, in the conference tournament by Alcorn State (13-39, 7-17) in New Orleans.
Tucker Pratt
Lakeside's Tucker Pratt was among six Hendrix track and field athletes named to the All-Southern Athletic Association First Team in April after winning a gold medal on the first-place 4x400-meter relay team with a time of 3:18.90 in Sewanee, Tenn. The relay team included Cutter Morning Star alum Sam Byrd.
Pratt was named to the All-SAA Spring Academic Honor Roll in June. To qualify, SAA student-athletes must have had a minimum grade point average of 3.25 for the term and be a regular member of a varsity athletic team in a sport sponsored by the conference.
Kirsten Garner
Lakeside alum Kirsten Garner featured in three tournaments during her senior season at Arkansas State. She played in the Lady Red Wolves Classic, placing second out of 23 players, and the Little Rock Golf Classic, both in October.
Garner shot rounds of 79, 77 and 76 to finish at a 16-over-par score of 232 at the Little Rock/A-State Invitational in Maumelle in March. She finished tied for 25th in the tournament.
Natalie Renaud
Southern Arkansas senior Natalie Renaud, of Lakeside, helped the Lady Muleriders record their best-ever finish at the Great American Conference Golf Championships in April at the Hot Springs Country Club.
Renaud placed 16th with rounds of 79, 80 and 79 on the three days of the tournament. She finished at 238, 22-over. She represented the Lady Muleriders in all five of their tournaments this spring.
Cameron McRae
Lakeside alum and former Arkansas State transfer Cameron McRae, now a junior at Henderson State in Arkadelphia, helped the Reddies capture their fifth consecutive Great American Conference championship at the Hot Springs County Club in April and compete in NCAA Division II Midwest/Central Regional for the sixth straight year.
McRae tied for 10th with a 3-over-par 219 over the three-day GAC tournament in Hot Springs. The first-place finish gave the Reddies an automatic bid to regionals.
Henderson narrowly missed out on a trip to the NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championships in May after placing eighth in the NCAA Division II Men's Central Regional tournament in Findlay, Ohio. The top five teams qualified for the national tournament.
Luke Lefler
Hendrix rising senior Luke Lefler, of Lakeside, was 4-13 in singles play this season for the Warriors. He best partnered in doubles play with senior Kristian Lenser. The pair was 4-9 overall, including a 4-7 record at the No. 2 doubles spot.
The Warriors were eliminated by Sewanee in the quarterfinals of the Southern Athletic Association conference tournament in April. Lefler was named to the All-SAA Spring Academic Honor Roll in June. To qualify, SAA student-athletes must have had a minimum grade point average of 3.25 for the term and be a regular member of a varsity athletic team in a sport sponsored by the conference.
Tatum Rice
Lakeside graduate Tatum Rice joined Arkansas' women's tennis team as a freshman for the 2017-18 season. Rice was 7-3 in singles competition last fall and 8-2 in doubles play with sophomore Jackie Carr. They were ranked No. 34 in the national doubles rankings following the fall season.
Rice teamed with junior Ana Oparenovic as the No. 40 doubles team in the country during the spring season. They were 14-5 against other No. 1 doubles teams.
Arkansas finished the season 16-16 after a surprise run to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Knoxville, Tenn., in April. The Razorbacks defeated the host Volunteers, No. 14 seed Missouri, No. 5 seed Auburn and No. 3 seed South Carolina, which was ranked No. 7 in the country. Their run was ended by No. 2 seed Florida, ranked No. 9 in the country.
The Razorbacks played Tennessee State six times in one day in Nashville, Tenn., on the way back from Knoxville to qualify for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship tournament with a .500 record. Arkansas did not receive a bid.
Head coach Michael Hegarty was fired in May after 15 seasons at Arkansas. He was the winngingest coach in the program's history with nine appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Rice will be joined in Fayetteville by her sister, Thea Rice, who remained committed to the Razorbacks after Hegarty was fired. Courtney Steinbock was hired from Houston in June to replace Hegarty.
Sports on 07/03/2018