Golden Tigers head south for spring break

Austin Bohannan winds up for a pitch.

By Randy Seal

For the FCT

After winning their first area series against Lawrence County, the Russellville Golden Tigers baseball team headed south to play in Gulf Coast Classic in Gulf Shores during their spring break this past week.

Head coach Chris Heaps said the purpose of this trip was to keep his teams active during a typical off week before going into the last half of their season, which is when a majority of the area games are played.

The Tigers drew games against Bentonville, Ark., McGill-Toolen, Alexandria, and James Clemens high schools.

In Game 1 against Bentonville, the Tigers fell short 17-3 despite senior Hayden Evans’ two hits and a good performance from Jacob Green as the starting pitcher and Reed Smith who came in as relief in the 3^rd inning to finish the game.

Game 2 was against McGill-Toolen and the Tigers fell short 3-1. Austin Bohannan pitched six innings, had six strikeouts and six hits; and Reed Smith had the Tigers’ only hit.

In Game 3 against Alexandria, the Tigers were leading 5-4 going into the 6^th inning, but a rally from Alexandria in the top of the 7^th led to the 6-5 loss.

Austin Kitterman pitched for 6 2/3 innings, had five strikeouts, two hits and an RBI, and Reed Smith added another RBI. Cody Greenhill came in as relief in the 7^th to finish out the game.

The Golden Tigers finally picked up a win in Game 4 against James Clemens where the Tigers came out on top 8-1. Cody Greenhill pitched for six innings, had four strikeouts and only gave up one run in the win. Reed Smith had three hits and two RBIs, Trevor Malone had two hits and three RBIs, and Hayden Evans had an RBI. Micah Fleming came in as relief in the 7^th and closed out the win allowing no runs.

The Golden Tigers will be back into area play this week with a double header at Muscle Shoals on Thursday.