By Brannon King for the FCT

The Russellville baseball team began play in the Class 5A playoffs against the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils at home and took two of three games to advance to round 2.

The Golden Tigers won game one 7-3 April 20 before falling that same night in game two by a 3-1 score. The split of the first two games set up a must-win situation for RHS, if they were to move on in their quest for a third-straight state championship.

Friday’s game three was pressure-packed, and seniors Judd Ward and Skylar Holland led the way to the 11-0 RHS victory. Ward hit for the cycle, a rare feat that is accomplished when a batter collects a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. His leadoff single in the last inning of the game completed the cycle, and his homer that was crushed over the scoreboard in right field put Russellville up 4-0 at the time. Meanwhile, Holland was cruising on the mound and shutting down the Blue Devils. The right-hander with a nasty curve-ball pitched all six innings, allowing four hits and no walks, and he struck out five for the win. With the bat, Holland added a double and home run of his own for good measure.

Russellville’s Jeff Lloyd smashed a pinch-hit home run to end the game in the sixth inning as the Golden Tigers run-ruled the Blue Devils in front of a big crowd. The win was a total team effort, with Colin Garrison and Rudy Fernandez picking up two hits each. Cody Greenhill, Landon Ezzell and Russ Carpenter also hit safely to help improve the Russellville record to 30-9 on the season.

“I was super proud,” Russellville head coach Chris Heaps said. “Judd Ward hits for the cycle, Jeff Lloyd gets a pinch-hit walk-off home run and Skylar Holland has a big game. I think just about everybody in the lineup had something to do with what we did today. We got some young guys into the game, and our shortstop (Brock Malone) makes a play. He’s a substitute, and it’s just about getting that experience and surviving and advancing.”

In game one of the Mortimer Jordan series, RHS jumped out to a 7-0 lead after only two innings of play. Cody Greenhill got the start on the mound and the win by pitching five innings. Greenhill struck out six and walked three batters in the game. He was relieved by Rudy Fernandez, and the junior worked two scoreless innings and allowed only two hits for the save.

Fernandez picked up a double with the bat, and Skylar Holland smacked a home run on his way to a four RBI performance. Greenhill had three RBIs and a hit, while Houston Kitterman, Tom Barkley Scott and Judd Ward also had a hit each.

Game two went the way of the Blue Devils due to an outstanding performance from University of Alabama commit, Dalton Hall. The 6’3” junior, right-hander pitched 5.2 innings and allowed one run on two hits while racking up four strikeouts. He also helped himself with the bat by connecting on a two-run home run to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Russellville starter Chad Wray.

With the series win, RHS will now travel to take on Arab in round two beginning April 28. The Golden Tigers defeated the Knights April 1 in a regular season game on the road by an 8-4 score. On that day, Chad Wray pitched, gave up no runs and struck out eight.

April 18, the Golden Tigers finished up the regular season by taking a game at UAH against the Southside-Gadsden Panthers. The game was added to the schedule to replace a cancelled game against Hartselle. RHS won 10-0 with the help of a grand slam home run off the bat of Greenhill. The HR was Greenhill’s 13^th of the season and tied a school record for home runs in a season.

Russellville players with two hits included Ward and Scott. Ezzell, Holland, Lloyd, Kitterman and Noah Gist all had a hit each. Scott pitched six innings and got the win. Caden Parker pitched the final scoreless frame.