No. 7 Russellville riding eight-game winning streak after area sweep, wins over 7A programs
The Russellville High School varsity baseball team is riding an eight-game winning streak as the Golden Tigers enter the back half of the regular season schedule. Russellville’s streak, which includes an area sweep of Jasper and a pair of wins over 7A programs, is the team’s longest of the season thus far.
Russellville head coach Jess Smith, when asked about his team’s winning run, half-jokingly said he felt like Nick Saban when talking to his players, echoing the former Alabama coach’s famous “rat poison” press conference (minus the searing stare and gruff tone). Smith said the winning streak is awesome, but his underlying message to his team was to remain humble and don’t be content.
“Baseball can humble you real quick,” Smith said. “Our thing going forward, our message, is just not to get complacent. That’s what I told our guys. We’re starting to pull it together, but if we don’t take it to another level that we’re capable of then all of this is for nothing. Driving them, motivating them to stay hungry, not get complacent, attack each day in preparation, stay humble. This game will humble you if you don’t treat it the right way.”
Russellville (16-7), ranked No. 7 in the March 20 Alabama Sports Writers Association poll, started its six-game road stretch by picking up a pair of wins on the road at Jasper on March 21 to complete the area sweep of the Vikings. The Golden Tigers slipped by Jasper 5-4 and then run-ruled the hosts 17-4 in the final game of the series.
“It was huge for us, getting the sweep against Jasper after dropping one to Lawrence County,” Smith said. “Even though you take the tiebreaker, the way area games are set up, sweeping an opponent is almost imperative if you drop one. So, it was awesome to get those.”
A five-run fourth inning was just enough for the Golden Tigers to eke by in the first game of the doubleheader, as Jasper’s four-run sixth-inning comeback attempt fell just short.
“I think (Jasper) had some misfortune against us in (game one of the series), but they responded and that’s a testament to those kids and Coach Ware and the job he does,” Smith said. “They played us really, really tough. We were leading 5-0 for a lot of the ball game and it’s like we stalled out. We gave them opportunities to get back in it and they did.”
Tripp Cleveland got the start on the mound and tossed four shutout innings before being replaced by Ty Engelthaler, who finished out the game.
“There were a lot of big performances from a lot of guys. Tripp Cleveland gave us four scoreless innings before he ran into some trouble. In the fourth inning, the first two guys got on, hit the ball hard off him, but then he goes one-two-three with three strikeouts right after. That’s huge coming from a freshman,” Smith said.
Russellville had no problem dispatching the Vikings in the series finale, a game highlighted by a seven-run second inning. Center fielder Brandt Cummings and first baseman Neyland Baker both had massive days at the plate, hitting two doubles each. Cummings finished the game with a team-high five RBI with four hits and three runs scored. Baker added another three RBI on two hits.
“It was a good day for us, and I think it gave us the confidence that we needed,” Smith said.
On March 23 the Golden Tigers grabbed another pair of road wins against 6A Buckhorn, 3-2, and 7A Grissom, 5-3. The visitors, led by a three-hit day from Baker, tallied 12 hits but were only able to scratch across three runs in the 3-2 win over the Bucks: an RBI single by Cayden Johns to score one run in the second inning and back-to-back RBI singles by Eli Boutwell and Elliott Green to score two more in the third.
Cummings pitched a gem to earn the win, tossing a one-hit complete game, allowing an earned run and striking out eight batters. Both of Buckhorn’s runs came around in the fourth.
Against Grissom, Russellville fell behind 3-0 before rallying with three-straight single run innings in the third, fourth, and fifth to tie it 3-3. The Golden Tigers won it in the seventh with two runs off an error that scored Brodie Vandiver and an RBI single from Brayden Entrekin.
“Against Grissom, a really good 7A program, we just fought our tails off,” Smith said.
Eli Boutwell got the start on the bump and tossed five innings, but it was Baker who received credit for the win, pitching the final two innings.
Some traits of this Russellville team that Smith said are becoming increasingly apparent are its selflessness, its maturity, and the players’ drive to make the most of their moment. That was his takeaway following the Buckhorn and Grissom victories and from his team’s current winning run.
“I think what’s special is not the eight (games) in a row, it’s seeing this team come together. We’re rotating guys in and out of our lineup and that’s hard to do in high school baseball,” he said. “Some kids don’t have the maturity at that point to process being put on the bench, per se. Parents typically struggle to understand those decisions, just traditionally. All of our kids have went all in on being each other’s biggest fan and being each other’s biggest supporters. And they’re working really, really hard so that when their number is called on—because it will happen—they’re ready for that moment.”
Smith gave a few examples:
“Look at a guy like Devin Green. He had been in the lineup earlier in the season and kind of struggled midway through. He got another opportunity Saturday against Grissom and he put us ahead with a tough at-bat, just making something happen,” he said. “And then right after him, Brayden Entrekin comes up—14 years old—and hits a backside double to (increase) the lead.”
“Guys like Elliott Green, who haven’t really been in the lineup all season, working their way into it now,” Smith added. “It’s a byproduct of our guys coming around to the process that Coach Heaps started a decade ago that ‘we is great than me,’ and the guys have really started to embody that.”
“We’re not playing our best baseball, but we’re playing together as a team. That’s special in high school baseball when guys that care for each other and are playing for each other, and we’re starting to see that.”
Russellville’s last two wins came in 6-2 and 8-2 results over Florence and Central, respectively. The Golden Tigers avenged their season-opening loss to the Falcons thanks to back-to-back three-run innings in the fourth and fifth. Green had an RBI and came around to score twice. Catcher Michael Scofield had a team-best two RBI day with a single in the fourth. Johns tossed all seven innings, allowing nine hits and fanning six batters.
Neyland Baker’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth accounted for half of Russellville's eight runs in its win over the Central Wildcats. Trailing 2-1 going into the sixth, the Golden Tigers pulled ahead and put the game out of reach with a seven spot in the bottom half of the inning. Baker’s slam was the highlight but Entrekin’s RBI double and Green’s RBI single in the inning also contributed to the scoreline.
Ty Engelthaler struck out three batters and surrendered seven hits in his seven innings of work on the bump for the Golden Tigers.
The most impressive aspect of the game for Smith was not the victory itself but the poise his team showed in order to win it.
“I don’t care who you’re playing or what level it’s at, if you can come from behind late in games and then what we did in (the sixth) inning scoring seven runs—six of them with two outs—that takes a brand of toughness that we’ve been trying to get our guys to possess. That’s what I’m most encouraged by through the last two weeks.”
Though Smith emphasizes the importance of a game-by-game approach, that brand of toughness, Smith said, will be crucial to maintain in any potential playoff scenario.
“Making a postseason run in baseball, at any level, you’re going to get hit in the mouth and you’re going to experience some adversity. Playing through those situations probably determines champions more times than not,” he said. “There are a lot of really good teams but the ones that play through adversity…those are the ones that produce championships.”
Russellville’s toughness (and, potentially, any looming side effects of proverbial rat poisoning) will be on display when the Golden Tigers hit the field again this weekend against championship-level competition. The Golden Tigers will play a neutral site doubleheader in Arab, taking on Sparkman and Piedmont on March 29 before facing Arab on March 30. Sparkman is ranked No. 10 in 7A, according to the first ASWA poll, and Piedmont claimed the top ranking in 3A. Arab was a quarterfinalist in last season’s 5A playoff.
“This weekend is huge. I told our guys we’re going to treat it like a postseason trip,” Smith said. “Like a playoff series, we’re going to have that same mentality. We’re going to treat Saturday, no matter what the results are on Friday, like we’ve got to bounce back and win a game three.”
“I’m excited. I think our guys are excited. It’s certainly going to be a challenge against three really, really good opponents. But at this point in the year, if you’re not excited about playing these types of games, you probably need to move on to spring football, I guess.”