Russellville baseball splits in opening four games of 2024 campaign

The Russellville High School baseball team opened its 2024 season with split results in its first four games, dropping two games before turning it around with dominant back-to-back wins.

Russellville fell 5-1 at home to Florence on the opening day of the season, Feb. 15. Walked batters and errors were costly for the Golden Tigers as the Falcons scored two runs in the second, two in the sixth and added a final run in the seventh. Russellville’s sole run came in the fifth inning when leadoff man and starting pitcher Brandt Cummings knocked in catcher Michael Scofield from third on a sacrifice fly.

Neither team played the cleanest game. Between the two sides there were four errors, 12 walks, and six batters hit by pitch.

“You always kind of wonder what you’re going to get opening day,” said Russellville head coach Jess Smith. “February baseball you can’t really anticipate, but you know Florence is a really good team. They have three really good arms that we saw. I thought the guys did a good job of competing, but the reality is we just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had.”

Three walks and two errors in the top of the second allowed the Falcons to come around twice. Though he never allowed a hit, the end of that inning marked the end of Cummings’ night on the mound. The senior faced 12 batters, walking four and striking out three before being relieved by Cayden Johns in the third.

Johns went the longest of any Russellville pitcher, tossing three innings. He faced 13 Falcons giving up two hits, walking one, and striking out two. He was relieved after the fifth inning and three pitchers–Gunner Sappington, Ty Engelthaler, and eighth grader Brayden Entrekin–combined to finish out the last two innings.

Smith said Russellville has depth at pitcher this season, and the Golden Tigers are going to use a number of players early to evaluate that depth and keep arms fresh.

“Really and truly, up until area play we don’t like our guys to get past 50 (pitches), and we’re going to keep them on a strict pitch count,” he said. “We think we have a deep pitching staff this year and we want to see these guys.”

The Golden Tigers then traveled to Huntsville for their next two games against James Clemens and Sipsey Valley on Feb. 17. 

A three-run, seventh-inning double by junior Neyland Baker wasn’t enough to pull the Golden Tigers back from a seven-run deficit against James Clemens as Russellville fell 8-4 to the Jets.

Engelthaler got the start on the mound for Russellville and tossed two innings, allowing two runs, neither earned, off one hit. Entrekin and freshman Tripp Cleveland came in in relief and pitched two innings apiece. The trio of Golden Tiger hurlers allowed just two hits between them but Russellville finished with five defensive errors.

Russellville turned things around in a big way later on in the day, earning its first win of the year with a 13-3 victory over Sipsey Valley. A massive fourth inning propelled the Golden Tigers as they went on to run-rule the Bears after five innings. 

A lead-off single by senior Devin Green got Russellville started in the bottom of the fourth as the Golden Tigers went on to earn five walks, five hits, and 10 runs to make it 12-2. An RBI single by Elliott Green in the fifth scored Eli Boutwell for the game’s final run.

“I told my team, you know, we’ve got to trust our approach,” Smith said. “Stay with the plan and sooner or later the game will take care of you.” 

Russellville returned home on Feb. 19 to take on Austin and improved to .500 with a 10-0 shutout of the Black Bears.

The Golden Tigers were led by a standout performance from Cayden Johns on the mound. Johns tossed all five innings and allowed just one hit and a 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 and tacked on another five runs in the fourth after an RBI single by Boutwell and a grand slam by Cummings. Senior Daniel Askew, who finished the game with three hits, knocked in Green for the walk-off run in the fifth. 

After opening with two losses, Smith is pleased with how his team responded against Sipsey Valley and Austin.

“The last two games have been really good for us offensively. It’s really good for the guys. It gives them confidence and trust in our approach and our plan at the plate,” he said. “It could have been easy to, you know, shut down, but these guys have stayed true to our plan.”

Smith said the consecutive wins should give his team some early season confidence before the more important games are played.

“Last year we didn’t win a game in these first three weeks. We were 0-6 before we got our first win, you know, so it’s really good for these guys to get in the win column early,” he said. “The objective is to win your area championship and learn how to play quality baseball at the right time, but it’s good to see these guys starting taking steps to that early.”

The Golden Tigers will look to keep the streak going as they start a three-game road stretch against Baldwin County, Saraland, and Austin, respectively, to finish out February.