Errors, miscues costly as Golden Tigers drop three straight, fall to 2-5

After run-ruling an Austin Black Bears team to win 10-0 on Feb. 19, the Russellville High School varsity baseball team dropped three straight on the road over the weekend, bringing the Golden Tigers down to a record of 2-5 for the season.

Russellville’s bats were hot over the four-game stretch, but errors and freebies cost the Golden Tigers dearly in their three losses against Baldwin County and Saraland, a 6A playoff quarterfinalist last season, on Feb. 23 and 24.

“I think the biggest need for improvement–and I do think that’ll happen–is just our self-induced mistakes right now,” Russellville head coach Jess Smith said. “Between the free bases and walks and hit-by-pitches or just big-time errors in big-time spots, we’re not able to outhit those things.”

In the first game of the week Russellville blanked Austin at home thanks to an exceptional performance by Cayden Johns on the mound. Johns tossed a five-inning, one-hit shutout, allowing just one walk while striking out 11 batters.

“We thought Cayden did a really great job of attacking the zone,” Smith said. “And it wasn’t like he was pitching for the (strikeout). He was just filling up the zone and hoping that, you know, we would defend well behind it. So good things happen when you’re in the zone, and I thought he did a fantastic job.”

“That was one of the better performances I’ve seen in my time here as a head coach. It was great for him and great for us,” he added.

At the plate, Russellville scored four runs in the third inning and tacked on another five runs in the fourth after an RBI single by Eli Boutwell and a grand slam by Brandt Cummings. Senior Daniel Askew, who finished the game with three hits, knocked in Devin Green for the walk-off run in the fifth.

The Golden Tigers kept the hits coming in their next outing at Baldwin County on Feb. 23. Led by Cummings’s four-hit, two-RBI day at the plate, Russellville scored seven runs and outhit the Tigers 10 to eight.

Unfortunately for Russellville, it’s runs that determine the winner and it lagged behind Baldwin County in that column. Down by eight runs heading into the sixth inning, the Golden Tigers attempted to mount a comeback, scoring four runs in the top of the sixth and another two in the seventh. In the end the visitors ran short of outs to play with. Critically, a combination of Russellville errors, walks, and hit batters accounted for six of Baldwin County’s nine runs in the game.

Despite the defeat, Smith said he is proud of the way his team battled and fought until the very end against Baldwin County and throughout the weekend.

“To kind of get hit in the mouth early against that level of competition and still compete through our own mistakes, it’s kind of a telltale sign of a tough team,” he said. “Obviously there’s things that we need to do better, but it’s my opinion that toughness wins.”

Russellville’s doubleheader against Saraland on Feb. 24 played out in a similar fashion to the Baldwin County game. In game one the two teams were tied 4-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Then, for Russellville, events took a turn for the worst.

“Bottom of the sixth, the bases are loaded, two outs. We get a slow-roller play and throw it up the line, it goes all the way to the outfield and all three runs score,” Smith said. “That’s the story of that game, and it’s kind of been similar to that every loss we’ve had.”

The worst result of the weekend came in the Saraland finale as Russellville was beaten soundly, 11-2. The Golden Tigers committed five errors in the game; all but three of Saraland’s runs were unearned. The trio of Russellville pitchers–Brayden Entrekin, Gunner Sappington, and Tripp Cleveland–allowed just three hits between them but combined for 11 walks.

It was surely a disappointing road trip for the Golden Tigers after back-to-back blowout wins over Sispey Valley and Austin, but Smith has said, multiple times, that February is always the hardest month.

“Last year we didn’t win a game in these first three weeks. We were 0-6 before we got our first win,” Smith pointed out after the Austin game.

After potentially frustrating or dispiriting losses, Smith said he tries to flip that disappointment into a source of motivation.

“I just tried to encourage this group to bring a level of focus during the work week when we’re not playing to solve these issues,” he said. “Tell (the players) ‘you take down a top-ranked program in the state of Alabama this weekend if we get these mistakes fixed. Be encouraged by that.’”

The brightest ray of light poking through the cloud of defeat this weekend was Russellville’s offense, which has picked up considerably compared to the first couple games.

“The first week of the season we really gave ourselves no shot to win because there was zero offense,” Smith said. “These guys are taking a step to becoming what they could be offensively, and I think they’re only going to get better with more experience.”

“We’re scratching the surface of our potential offensively,” he added.

Armed with the belief his Golden Tigers will continue to improve in the batter’s box and confident that they will fix the mistakes that have plagued them thus far, Smith is still high on his team and its potential this season.

“You know, my biggest takeaway (from the weekend) probably was that this group has some fire in them,” he said. “I think that some of those (mistakes) will get cleaned up and the potential for this group–there is no ceiling, really.”