TOP AREA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES OF THE LAST 30 YEARS: CARSON LARUE

By Mike Tupa

Aug. 18, 2025

BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT

During his nearly 30 years of covering area high school sports for either the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise or the Bartlesville Area Sports Report, Mike Tupa has enjoyed the opportunity to observe some incredible athletes.

This is an ongoing series highlighting each few days one of those athletes from the 1996-97 school year through the present. The list is not in chronological order. The athletes are presented in random sequence.

TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT

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CARSON LARUE (Dewey)

Baseball/boys basketball (early 2010s)

Definitely one of the finest all-around athletes to suit up in Washington County.

He was just as likely to pump in 30 points in a basketball game as he was to hurl a no-hitter or deliver a game-deciding hit.

LaRue went on to become a record-breaking pitcher in college and spent several years in pro baseball, mostly in the Houston Astros organization.

The Astros plucked the Dewey High graduate in the 14th round (427th pick overall) of the 2016 baseball draft,

LaRue ( listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds) would labor five seasons as a pitcher in Houston's farm system, progressing as high as the AAA level and even getting a preseason stint with Houston in the exhibition game phase.

The COVID disruption of the 2020 season proved to be bad timing for LaRue's climb to the big time. The entire 2020 campaign was abolished, costing him a year of development just after he had played AAA ball in 2019.

LaRue worked hard during the forced absence and came back in 2021 to be assigned back to AAA ball with the Sugar Land Skeeters in Texas. But after LaRue was reactivated two months after going on the injury list, the Skeeters released him on Aug. 25, 2021.

He played two more years of Frontier League ball, wrapping up his career in 2023.

What a whirlwind decade it had been for LaRue from 2013 through 2023!

By 2013, he was a junior on the Dewey baseball team and already considered one of the elite high school players in Oklahoma. Guided by talented baseball skipper Eddie Herchock and surrounded by several highly-skilled teammates, LaRue helped lead the 2013 Dogger team to a winning record and strong playoff run.

It all came together in 2014 for Herchock & Company. LaRue and his 'mates stormed to a 35-4 record and a spot in the Class 4A state championship game. Unfortunately, Tuttle edged Dewey for the state title, 4-3, despite a gritty effort by LaRue who pitched on short rest.

Following high school, LaRue pitched one season as a 19-year-old freshman for Oklahoma State. He carved out a 2-0 record and 5.04 earned run average in 17 appearances. His other stats included 25 innings, 19 strikeouts, 11 walks and only three wild pitches.

LaRue transferred for his sophomore season to pitch for Cowley County (Kan.) College — and pieced together an amazing season that landed him in the team's record book and also earned him a national spotlight.

His stats that stupendous spring of 2016 included an 11-1 record (with one save), 17 appearances (15 starts), nine complete games, two shutouts, 102.1 innings, 133 strikeouts, 20 walks, only 10 extra-base hits allowed, an opponents' batting average of .205, and a 2.46 ERA.

Cowley accelerated to a 44-18 record and earned a coveted qualification for the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series (NJCAA).

His main honors from that 2016 college season included:

— NJCAA Division I Baseball Honorable Mention All-American.

— Pitcher of the Year in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

— First Team Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

After being drafted by Houston, LaRue played rookie ball for two different teams to round out the summer of 2016. 

During his five seasons in the Astros' system LaRue compiled a 26-23 record and 4.27 ERA. He appeared in 81 games (57 starts), threw two complete games and earned two saves. He was also named an All-Star in 2017 in one of his leagues.

In the late winter of 2021, the Astros added LaRue as a non-roster player for the preseason. He responded with some strong showings.

His other line numbers for Houston included 368.2 innings, 314 strikeouts, 116 walks and just eight hit batsmen and two balks.

In three seasons in Independent ball he weaved together an 11-13 mark, 4.64 ERA, 188 innings, 180 strikeouts and 62 walks.

Whether gliding around on a basketball court until stinging teams with cobra-like striking ability or casting a tall shadow on the mound or belting timely hits, LaRue could do it all with style and moxie.

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This series has included the following athletes, who are listed in no particular order

-Jena’ Williams

-Eric Rolfs

-Chris Smith

-Jill Bryan

-Barron Tanner Jr.

-Hailey Tucker

-Jeremy Dunkle

-Whitney Metcalf

-Tim Hamilton

-Danielle Koster

Carson LaRue