Heading into its first area series of the 2025 campaign this week, the Russellville High School varsity baseball team is riding a wave of momentum from five consecutive wins.
Over the last week and a half, the Golden Tigers have compiled victories over Mars Hill, Deshler, Red Bay, and Athens while improving to 12-4 on the season.
The winning streak comes off the heels of another disappointing defeat against Madison Academy, the No. 3 team in Class 5A according to Prep Baseball Report, on March 7. The Mustangs have accounted for three of Russellville’s four losses this season, but Russellville head coach Jess Smith said his team hasn’t gone down without deriving some lessons from it.
“The loss to Madison Academy, while it’s not fun, when you go up against and lose to a quality opponent like that you learn a lot of things,” he said. “I think we got exposed in some things, offensively especially, that we needed to work on to be able to play at a high level. It allowed us to get to work on some practice plans to focus on those areas where we struggled so much. You don’t want to drop a game to anybody, but I think when you don’t allow it to snowball then you’re doing something right.
“You’re always going to have bumps and hiccups in baseball, but if you can allow a loss to be a lesson then you’re always winning,” he added.
After the defeat the only thing that piled up on Russellville were wins against quality opponents. The day after the Madison Academy loss the Golden Tigers took two on the road at Mars Hill, beating the Panthers 6-2 and 5-4.
In the doubleheader’s first game, Russellville’s trio of Brayden Hatton, Gunner Sappington, and Brayden Entrekin combined on the mound for 12 strikeouts and two earned runs off four hits. In game two, senior Ty Willis, who started the game at pitcher and tossed three innings, led the way offensively with three hits and an RBI as the Golden Tigers came from behind to win in the last two innings.
“One of the guys who’s been a constant offensive producer for us is Ty Willis,” Smith said. “A guy at the top of the order that’s hitting around .500 for the season. He’s a tough out. He’s a constant producer for us and has been all year.”
On Tuesday, March 11, RHS hit the road again, this time at Deshler, the No. 4 team in Class 4A. The Golden Tigers were propelled by six shutout innings from Entrekin—an “outstanding performance,” according to Smith—and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth and then a 9-0 lead in the top of the seventh before the hosts pulled a few runs across. Offensively, right fielder Brennon Thorpe and shortstop Tripp Cleveland both finished the game with two RBI each.
The run continued on Thursday, March 13 when the Class 5A No. 9 Golden Tigers hosted the Class 2A No. 9 Red Bay Tigers after a torrential downpour caused a long delay to the start. After jumping out to a 10-0 lead by the third inning, the visitors tossed cold water on any Russellville hopes of a shortened game. Red Bay stormed back starting in the top of the fourth and scored eight unanswered, giving the game as inauspicious an ending for the Golden Tigers as it was a beginning for everyone else.
Ty Engelthaler, who started the game and tossed three shutout innings, re-entered in the seventh, however, and closed the door on the Tigers’ comeback attempt. He finished with six strikeouts.
“It’s not very often in high school baseball you have to ask the question, ‘Does he get the win or does he get the save?’” Smith said. “Obviously he gets the win. But it’s not very often you have to ask a guy that started for you to come back in and close the door, but he did it against Red Bay. Great job by him.”
Mirroring Engelthaler’s excellence on the mound in the batter’s box was senior designated hitter Neyland Baker, who’s made his way back into the Golden Tiger lineup in the last few games. Against RBHS, Baker was 3-for-4 at the dish with four RBI and a run scored.
“He’s back in the lineup and getting acclimated to live at-bats after being shut down for a while, but he’s starting to get hot with the stick at the right time with area play coming up,” Smith said of Baker.
Russellville wrapped the week up with a 7-3 home victory against Athens. After falling behind 3-0, the Golden Tigers exploded with a seven-run fourth inning that carried them to the win. The first baseman Cleveland led with three hits and a run scored and catcher Tristan Ray had two RBI.
Every player in the RHS lineup contributed to the scoreline in the game against the Golden Eagles, either knocking a run in or coming around to score themselves. It’s indicative of how this year’s squad has operated. Smith said everyone is doing their part and that’s what has led to the team’s success in the previous five contests and on the season as a whole.
“I can go up and down the lineup, one through nine, and tell you how each of them competed and contributed this week,” he said. “It’s not one or two or three guys but it’s all of them, and I think that’s one of the strong points of this 2025 team. Each and every guy on our varsity roster is called upon; some at different times and some in different roles, but they’re going to execute. Every single one of them play a role in the success we’ve had this season, and I think our guys have bought into that.
“It’s great to know that even during the ups and downs and the emotional losses, your team is locked in. They go to war at practice every day because they know it means something,” Smith added. “Their name might not be in the lineup that day or it might not be until the fourth or fifth or sixth inning. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be the next day, and I think our team sees that and believes in it this season.”
Russellville will now turn its attention to its first area series of the year as the Golden Tigers take on Priceville, a recent addition to Class 5A and Area 14.
“Priceville is new to 5A but they come with a tradition of success,” Smith said. “They’re a scrappy bunch and they’re returning a lot of guys from last season when they made a playoff push.
“It’s going to be really important for us to come in firing on all cylinders this week because we know we’re going to be tested in every phase of the game,” he added.
RHS will hope to carry the momentum of the last five games over to Tuesday’s series opener at Priceville and then on to Thursday’s doubleheader at the Russellville Baseball Stadium. But maybe just as important as the momentum is the experience the Golden Tigers have gained over the course of the year and in the last handful of matchups in particular.
Smith said the likes of Brayden Hatton and Coltan Oliver have “answered some questions” the Golden Tigers have been asking of their pitching situation heading into the three-game area series. One question now is can Russellville’s offense handle what Priceville, who comes in with two premier arms of its own, throws its way.
“They’ve got two pitchers going to play at the next level; one at UAH and the other at Wallace St. in Hanceville. They’re both throwing in the upper-80s and it’s not every day in high school baseball you see that,” Smith said.
But given the talent and quality of pitching the Golden Tigers have seen thus far, Smith is confident his team will respond positively.
“I think our guys are equipped because of the quality of pitching we’ve seen this year,” he said. “In our 16 games this year, I’d say in 14 of the 16 we’ve seen our opponent’s number one or number two pitcher. At times that leads to some offensive struggles, but you’ve got to think it prepares you for the area series and the most meaningful games of the year.
“It’s borderline frustrating because when you see pitching like that all the time it leads to some offensive struggles, but I think it’s helped our hitters’ mentality. Success doesn’t always equal a hit; success is a quality at-bat and what a quality at-bat looks like depends on the situation,” he added. “Those are the type of things we’ve had to endure early this year because we’ve gotten everyone’s best. We’ve had to work with our hitters and keep them positive and establish what success looks like because of it. But it’s encouraging to me that we’ve been through all this going into a series where you know you’re going to see good pitching.”
Smith said Priceville will also try to keep the Golden Tigers on their toes defensively, as well, attempting to create issues on the basepaths and force errors.
“They play a lot like us in the sense that if you’re not prepared to hold runners on then they like to create chaos and they have the ability to steal a lot of bags. They make you prepare for that and in a lot more phases than just playing defense and pitching well,” Smith said. “They’re a well-rounded ball club and we’ve spent a lot of intentional time prepping for them.”
While the Golden Tigers have prepared for Priceville specifically, that doesn’t change Russellville’s mindset about how they want to play the game broadly. Smith said the goal is dominating the opponent, in area play or not, and that’s how they intend to approach the series against the Bulldogs this week.
“You always want to get out to a good start (in area play) but that’s how we want to operate anyway. We’re not looking to chess-piece anything. Our game plan doesn’t necessarily change; we want to dominate every single pitch of every single inning of every single game, not just in an area series,” he said. “We don’t have the mentality that we’re willing to drop one and that’s the same mentality we’ve had all year long.
“This is the time of the year and the type of games that you’re always working and preparing for,” Smith added. “I’m looking forward to competing against a good team with two high-level arms and seeing how our team stacks up.”
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
