RHS rebounds from slow start
Russellville’s T.J. Lindsey is the leadoff hitter for the Golden Tigers’ potent offense that has helped propell Russellville’s 21-game winning streak.
The Russellville varsity baseball team got a rude awakening to start the season.
During the first three games the Golden Tigers were outscored 34-6 and shutout twice in losses to Hazel Green, Bob Jones and Sparkman.
A few days later Russellville picked up its first win of the season by defeating Deshler 14-3 in the opening round of the Times Daily Tournament. That win sparked something in the Golden Tigers, and they have not lost since.
Russellville is now 21-3 and ranked sixth in Class 5A.
The turnaround is the result of strong pitching, good defense and an explosive offense.
The Golden Tigers return Ryan Bowling, John Batchelor and Blake Hyde on the mound to give the pitching staff a trio of good arms to start. Alex Bohanon and Luke Harris provide head coach David Ward with a pair of quality left-handers.
“We’ve been throwing well,” Ward said. “We have a few more arms than we did last year.”
Helping the pitchers out is a defense that started slow, but as players learned their new positions it became strong.
Nathan Vincent, who played shortstop last season, has moved to catcher to replace Jonas Boyles, who graduated. Jordan Gist replaced Vincent at shortstop and Logan Ezzell is now in right field.
Ward is pleased with how the players are responding to the changes.
“Nathan has stepped up behind the plate,” Ward said. “And Hunter Willis is as good a second baseman as there is defensively.”
But strong pitching and good defense can only take a team so far — it still has to score more runs than the other team. Since the three-game losing streak, Russellville’s offense has been able to produce double-digit runs in most of its games.
“They’ve been swinging the bat pretty good,” Ward said. “We played teams in Florida that threw well against us.”
One of the pitchers Russellville faced has signed with defending national champion South Carolina and the Golden Tigers won that game 2-1.
T.J. Lindsey is leading off for the Golden Tigers followed by Vincent, Ezzell and Batchelor.
If the Golden Tigers can maintain this pace, they have a good shot at making a deep run in the playoffs. Before they can do that they have to earn a playoff spot.
Russellville opens area play March 31 against Lawrence County. They will also have series against Muscle Shoals and Athens.
The Golden Tigers played Lawrence County and Muscle Shoals during the Times Daily Tournament. Russellville beat Lawrence County 12-3 and roughed up Muscle Shoals 17-2 in the finals.
Russellville will end the regular season against ninth-ranked Athens in a series that could determine which team will host a playoff series and which team will have to hit the road.
