By Brannon King for the FCT

For the third-straight year, the Russellville Golden Tigers will be playing for the Class 5A baseball state championship in Montgomery. RHS swept Ardmore on Thursday, May 11 to set up a rematch against Faith Academy in the championship series. The Golden Tigers defeated the Rams last season to claim their second consecutive 5A title.

Russellville took game one against the Ardmore Tigers by a 6-0 score behind the strong pitching of Cody Greenhill, who pitched 6 innings before Rudy Fernandez worked the final inning. Game two went Russellville’s way by a 7-3 final score. Ardmore jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage before Russellville came on to take the lead in the fourth inning. Chad Wray started the game on the mound for RHS and Fernandez came on in relief before Skylar Holland ultimately closed the game out in the seventh.