Golden Tiger baseball team takes two out of three last week
The Russellville High School varsity baseball team picked up two wins in three home games last week. After falling to Cullman 9-1 on March 7, the Golden Tigers rebounded with wins over Cordova and Hatton in a doubleheader on March 9. The results bring Russellville’s record to 7-6 this season as the Golden Tigers look forward to vital contests coming up.
“We did not play good (against Cullman) but we rebounded on Saturday,” Russellville head coach Jess Smith said. “That should give us momentum going into the work week and gives us something to build off of.”
The loss to Cullman ended a three-game winning streak for the Golden Tigers. Rearing its ugly head were some of the same issues that plagued Russellville earlier in the season.
“Cullman is a very good baseball team,” Smith said. “A lot of it was some of the same mistakes we were making earlier: errors, too many walks, mistakes you can’t make against good teams. Looking back at it, only three of their nine runs were earned.”
“They put up a five spot in the first inning and it was just tough to get back into the game after that.”
Russellville had just three hits and just as many errors against the Bearcats. The lone run for the Golden Tigers came in the sixth inning, an RBI double by Brandt Cummings to score Gunner Sappington. Cayden Johns got the start on the mound but lasted just through the first inning. He was relieved by Ty Engelthaler who went on to pitch five and a third innings, striking out seven batters, and impressing his head coach.
“Ty Engelthaler was an extremely bright spot for us,” Smith said. “He pitched well against Cullman and looking at the stats, only one of the runs scored against him was earned. To have a guy like Ty come in in a tough situation like that, it was certainly something positive to take out of it.”
The Golden Tigers turned it around on Saturday with convincing 11-1 and 6-2 victories over Cordova and Hatton, respectively.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, Russellville quickly dissolved the deficit with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Daniel Askew hit a leadoff home run to tie it up immediately. That was followed up with a groundout that scored Cummings and then an RBI single by Ty Willis.
The Golden Tigers would go on to add three more runs in the third, another run in the fourth, and then four runs in the bottom of the fifth to trigger the mercy rule. Askew led the team with two RBI while Cummings, Eli Boutwell, and Willis all came around to score twice. On the mound, Tripp Cleveland threw all five innings and gave up just two hits while fanning three batters. His one run allowed was unearned.
“I think we did a good job on the mound this weekend,” Smith said. “We’re not perfect. We’re still making some mistakes, some errors that we need to fix, but I thought, for the most part, we were able to pitch our way out of those and play good defense to get out of those situations.”
A 6-2 win over Hatton in the next game capped the week for the Golden Tigers. Cummings got the start on the mound and pitched three innings, allowed two runs, neither earned, and recorded six strikeouts. He was relieved by Johns, who tossed three scoreless innings and also sat down six batters. Gunner Sappington came in in the seventh to seal the game, striking out two of his three batters faced.
At the dish, Russellville was led by a two-hit, three-RBI game from designated hitter Ty Willis. The Golden Tigers took an early 1-0 lead in the first courtesy of a Willis RBI double. Russellville added four more runs the following inning, starting with a solo homer by catcher Michael Scofield. Willis then knocked in two more runs, scored by Askew and Brayden Entrekin, with another double to make it 4-1; he scored himself later that inning on a Cummings double to left field. Russellville’s sixth and final run came in the fifth inning on a pitch that Eli Boutwell sent over the center field wall.
The results against Cordova and Hatton give Russellville five wins in six games and provide momentum for the Golden Tigers as they head into area play. Russellville’s next three games will be against Lawrence County, the first played at home on March 12 and the next two on the road on March 14.
“You never want to enter area play rolling off some losses,” Smith said, adding that confidence is key in baseball. It’s something the Golden Tigers will want to have plenty of when facing Lawrence County, a team Smith is not underestimating.
“I think (Lawrence County is) a great team. I’ve gone and watched them myself,” Smith said. “Lawrence County, if you look at just their record, they don’t look as good as they are. They are kind of like us. A lot of their losses are against good teams and they’ve been playing a lot of guys. When you get into area play, you know, you’re going to have your best lineup and you’re not going to be making as many changes.”
Following the Lawrence County series, Russellville will face its next area rival Jasper on March 19 and 21. But Smith and the Golden Tigers are not looking that far ahead just yet.
“I like to tell my guys ‘be where your feet are,’” Smith said. “Honestly, I don’t like to look too far ahead. I want us to take it one day at a time, one week at a time, focus on what we’ve got in front of us. So right now we’re getting ready for Lawrence County and just trying to get better every day.”