Benton’s Jackson Rutledge signs with Arkansas
By Kevin Connelly
BENTON – Jackson Rutledge had watched friends and teammates sit at a table, decorated in school colors, much like the one set up for him on Thursday inside Benton High School.
He knew he wanted his day eventually, which made it that much more satisfying when it finally came.
“I didn’t know how to get there,” Rutledge said after signing with Arkansas to play baseball. “These past couple years I figured out what it took to get up here and I hope all my boys out here can tell what it took to get here.”
It helps to be left-handed with a 6-foot-4 frame and an 88 MPH fastball, which Benton baseball coach J.D. Stephens called Rutledge’s best recruiting tool. The second best was his 4.0 GPA.
“Kids like that, in all honesty we can say we do a lot for him, but him taking care of everything for four years in the classroom and then God-given 6-4 and left-handed throwing took care of the rest,” Stephens said.
Rutledge was also recruited by Rice, Louisiana Tech, UL Lafayette, Northwestern and St. Louis University. The draw of playing under the bright lights in the SEC was enough to get a commitment to the Razorbacks.
“It didn’t feel like anywhere else I had been,” Rutledge said of Fayetteville. “It wasn’t like, ‘I can kind of see myself here,’ it was like, ‘This is where I need to go.’
“It just felt like family, felt like I belonged there and it felt like they could push me to the next level.”
Rutledge and his family are from St. Louis, but have quickly become LSU fans. That could make things tricky come spring when the Razorbacks and Tigers meet on the diamond.
“[My dad] said he’s an Arkansas baseball fan, but he’s not an Arkansas football fan,” Rutledge said with a smile.
Rutledge was 6-2 with a 2.05 ERA last season for the Tigers. Benton has had an impressive run recently of baseball players getting offers from college programs. Jordan Shaffer signed with Northwestern State and Cameron Horton with UL-Lafayette last year.
“It’s a direct reflection of their work ethic,” Stephens said. “We’re here for one reason and that’s accountability. There’s a lot of different ways to coach baseball, but the one thing we do on a daily basis is demand excellence from them.
“[Rutledge] has done a great job for four years of putting in the work to have this opportunity.”
Twitter: @Connelly_Times
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