RUSSELLVILLE - Three Russellville pitchers combined to shut out Westbrook Christian on Saturday afternoon, and Cody Greenhill continued his recent surge at the plate with a two-run homer to help the Golden Tigers post their fourth straight win, 6-0.
Greenhill, who went 5-for-7 with a home run, a double and eight RBIs in a three-game sweep of Lawrence County earlier in the week, stayed hot against the Warriors (1-9), driving a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left-center to stretch Russellville’s lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the third. In two home games this season, Greenhill is now 4-for-6 with two homers, a double and eight RBIs.
Greenhill also started on the mound against Westbrook and went the first three innings, pitching around a pair of singles in the top of the first, another hit in the second and two errors in the third. He finished with three strikeouts and did not issue a walk before giving way to reliever Skylar Holland in the top of the fourth.
Holland (2-1) was terrific in his three innings, striking out five and holding the Warriors to just two hits. He gave way in the seventh to Judd Ward, who got the final three outs to finish off the sixth shutout win of the season by the Golden Tigers (9-5). Ward walked one and struck out one.
Russellville grabbed the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the second. Holland drove a pitch over the leftfielder’s head for a leadoff double and moved to third on a bunt single by senior catcher Russ Carpenter. Junior Rudy Fernandez then got down a squeeze bunt to bring home Holland, and courtesy runner Tom Barkley Scott scored on Houston Kitterman’s two-out single up the middle to make it 2-0.
Westbrook Christian starter Tyler Self hit Landon Ezzell with a pitch to start the bottom of the third, and Greenhill followed with his second home run of the season and the seventh of his varsity career to make it 4-0.
Holland came on in relief and struck out the side in the top of the fourth. Noah Gist then led off the bottom half with an infield hit and stole second before moving to third on a sac bunt by Kitterman. Colin Garrison drew a walk, and then Ward doubled to left to drive home Gist and make it 5-0.
The Golden Tigers pushed across their final run in the bottom of the sixth when Gist drew a walk, his team-leading 11th of the season, and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
The Warriors finished with five hits in the game, just one fewer than Russellville, but they stranded seven runners—four of them in scoring position.
Ward, Greenhill, Holland, Carpenter, Gist and Kitterman each had one hit for the Golden Tigers. Garrison walked three times and stole a base, and Scott stole a base and scored a run.
Russellville will look for a fifth straight win later this evening against Hamilton, in a game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
