Local baseball roundup, April 6-11: Phil Campbell, Russellville, Vina sweep area foes in convincing fashion
Here’s a look at the baseball action from teams around Franklin County:
Monday, April 6
Lynn 17, Vina 0
Tuesday, April 7
Mars Hill 4, Belgreen 1
Red Bay 4, Phil Campbell 1
Putting up solo runs in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings of their game against their county rivals, the Red Bay Tigers knocked off Phil Campbell by three runs. Riley Carpenter, who had a 2-for-3 day at the plate, scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the second inning on a PCHS error. An inning later, Jaxson Swann smashed a solo home run to left field to make it 2-0, RBHS. Phil Campbell, in the top of the fourth, cut its deficit in half on an RBI single by Isaac Duboise, but Red Bay responded in the bottom half with a Carpenter solo homer to regain the two-run advantage. Carson McGee’s RBI single to right field in the fifth, scoring Jeremiah Thorne from second base, accounted for the game’s final run. On the mound, Landyn Lewey, who pitched three and a third innings, allowing one earned run off four hits, was credited with the win for the hosts. Phil Campbell’s Sage Morgan came out on the losing side, allowing three runs—two earned—off three hits through four innings. Red Bay’s Thorne and Phil Campbell’s Shooter Motes pitched in relief.
Russellville 25, Lawrence County 1
Russellville dominated area rival Lawrence County in the opening game of the three game series, run-ruling the Red Devils in five innings on Senior Night. The Golden Tigers, who scored six runs in the second inning, nine runs in the third, and 10 in the fourth, had seven players with multi-RBI performances but were led by five RBIs from shortstop Tripp Cleveland and four RBIs from center fielder Brayden Entrekin. All four of Entrekin’s RBIs came from his two home runs in the second and fourth innings. Left fielder Bryson Cooper also had a home run, a two-run bomb in the third inning. Russellville, outhitting LCHS 14-2, had a day at the plate but saw a good performance on the mound, as well. Senior Ty Engelthaler pitched four and two-thirds innings and allowed one unearned run off two hits and struck out six batters before being relieved by Caleb Hawkins in the top of the fifth inning. The Golden Tigers’ five seniors—Ty Engelthaler, Malaki Groce, Houston Askew, Bryson Cooper, and Brayden Hatton—were recognized after the game.
Colbert Heights 18, Tharptown 6
Lynn 14, Vina 0
Thursday, April 9
Russellville 9, Lawrence County 0
Russellville captured the area series with a win in the first game of the doubleheader, giving the Golden Tigers a winning record for the first time this campaign. Starting pitcher Brayden Entrekin combined with senior Brayden Hatton on the bump to shutout the Red Devils. Entrekin, through five innings, allowed just two hits and struck out nine batters. Hatton, pitching the final two innings in relief, gave up nothing to LCHS, putting the game away with 17 pitches. Entrekin also continued his hot streak at the dish, finishing the game with two hits and two RBIs. First baseman Caleb Hawkins led the Golden Tigers in production in game two, though, going 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs. After three scoreless innings it was an RBI single by Hawkins that scored the game’s first run. Russellville, outhitting LCHS 11-2, would go on to score two runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, three in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
Phil Campbell 10, Sheffield 1
Phil Campbell opened up its area series against Sheffield with a convincing road victory. Propelled by the arm and bat of Isaac Duboise, as well as a solid 2-for-2 day from the batter’s box from senior shortstop Hagen Raper, the Bobcats were able to jump up on the Bulldogs early and then finish strong. Via an RBI triple by Raper, two RBI singles by Duboise, and a sacrifice bunt by Bentley Morgan, PCHS was able to plate five runs in the first two innings. The Bobcats combined for five more runs in the final three innings of play, highlighted by RBI doubles from Morgan and Raper and an RBI triple by Shooter Motes. Raper finished the contest with two RBIs, two runs scored, and three walks; Duboise went 2-for-4 with three RBIs; and Morgan was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. On the bump, Duboise pitched a complete game and received the win, allowing one unearned run off four hits while striking out nine.
Russellville 11, Lawrence County 1
Mars Hill 13, Belgreen 4
Friday, April 10
Phil Campbell 13, Sheffield 3
From left to right, Phil Campbell seniors Hagen Raper, Eli Tyra, and Matthew Terry. (Phil Campbell Baseball/Facebook)
The first game of the Bobcats’ area doubleheader against Sheffield proved to be a short one as PCHS managed to run-rule the Bulldogs in five innings. Outhitting Sheffield 10-5, Phil Campbell was also aided by five errors by the visitors. After going down 1-0 in the top half of the first inning, Phil Campbell responded with four runs in the bottom half and never surrendered the lead after that. Chandler Benford scored the Bobcats’ first (and game-tying) run, coming in from third on Sheffield’s first error. An RBI groundout by Shooter Motes, a balk, and a passed ball brought in the other three runs in the first. In the second, Phil Campbell plated two more runs on another SHS error and a Jack Owens RBI single that made it 6-1. The hosts’ final seven runs came in the fourth and fifth innings via RBI hits from Isaac Duboise, Sage Morgan, and Reed Jackson. The Duboise brothers—Isaac and Miles—combined for a perfect 5-for-5 day: Isaac went 2-for-2 with a run scored, two walks and a team-high three RBIs while Miles went 3-for-3 with a run scored. On the mound, Owens went all five innings for the Bobcats; only one of the three runs allowed was earned, he allowed five hits and he struck out six batters. Between games of the doubleheader, Phil Campbell honored its three seniors, Eli Tyra, Hagen Raper, and Matthew Taylor. PCHS, ranked No. 7 in Class 3A in the latest ASWA rankings, finished out the week with a 19-9 overall record.
Phil Campbell 12, Sheffield 2
Vina 14, Phillips 1
Vina easily dispatched the home team Bears in four innings in game one of Friday’s doubleheader (and would go on to do so again in game two). Led by the bat of designated hitter Chris Sparks, who went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored, and aided by six Bears errors, the Red Devils plated two runs in the top of the first, one in the second, six more in the third, and finished Phillips off with five runs in the fourth inning. First baseman Kendon Rhodes also had a multi-hit day going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. On the mound for Vina was Zach Sparks, who pitched all four innings, allowing one earned run off three hits while striking out 10 batters.
Vina 15, Phillips 4
In game two of the doubleheader, Vina needed just two innings to see off the Bears. The Red Devils went up 5-1 after the first inning before piling on 10 runs in the top of the second. VHS did all of its damage off just six hits, two of which came off the bat of first baseman Zach Sparks who finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. Kendon Rhodes also had a multi-RBI game after his two-run single in the second inning made it 12-1, Vina. On the rubber for the Red Devils was Matthew Patterson, who allowed four earned runs off five hits and struck out two batters over two innings.
Saturday, April 11
East Lawrence 10, Belgreen 0
Red Bay 14, Lexington 1
Red Bay 7, Wilson 3
Led by a great 3-for-4 day at the plate from sophomore Davien Colburn, the Red Bay Tigers were able to turn around an early narrow deficit on the road. Down 1-0 after three innings of play, RBHS grabbed three runs in the fourth inning and plated four more in the fifth go up 7-2. An RBI single by Landyn Lewey got the Tigers on the scoreboard and tied the game up 1-1 in the fourth before Colburn hit a two-run inside-the-park home run on a ball into right field to make it 3-1, Red Bay. In the next inning, the Tigers scored four runs with two outs. A Wilson error allowed one run to score before back-to-back RBI singles from Colburn and Sawyer Humphries drove in the final three Red Bay runs. Four pitchers made appearances for Red Bay and combined for 10 strikeouts, but it was Ayden Pruitt (3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 SO) who was credited with the win. Red Bay, ranked No. 7 in Class 2A, finished the week with a 15-5 record.
Russellville 5, Southside 4
RHS closed out the week with a walk-off win against the Southside Panthers. The visitors from Southside held a 4-0 lead going into the bottom half of seventh inning, but the Golden Tigers were able to single the Panthers to death to earn the comeback victory. A couple of drawn walks and a single by Bryson Cooper put Golden Tigers on base to start the seventh before a Brayden Hatton single to left drove in senior Houston Askew. In the next at-bat, Tristan Ray’s single brought another in to make it 4-2. A couple of plate appearances later, with two outs, senior Malaki Groce, who was 3-for-3 on the day, tied the game up 4-4 with a two-run single to right field that drove in Hatton and Brayden Entrekin. Finally, it was up to Caleb Hawkins, who was already having a great week at the plate, to came up with the walk-off hit—and he did. With two strikes against him, Hawkins singled on a hard ground ball into center field, scoring pinch runner Keifer Hallmark from second base to win the game for the Golden Tigers. On the mound for RHS, Jackson Smith got the start; Smith pitched four innings, allowing two earned (two unearned) runs off two hits and recorded three strikeouts. Tripp Cleveland came in in relief to finish out the game, allowing two hits and striking out three. With the victory, Russellville finished the week with a 16-13 record.