By Staff
Golden Tigers score seven runs in fifth inning to win 9-0
Kim West
Russellville's Jake Ward is a proven clutch hitter but the sophomore showed Monday that he can also pitch through pressure by earning a 9-0 victory in a Class 5A, Area 16 showdown with No. 8 Athens.
Ward pitched six scoreless innings against the Golden Eagles (16-5, 2-1) and rang up five strikeouts as No. 7 Russellville (23-9, 3-0) knocked out Athens senior ace Colin McMurry with a seven-run fifth inning.
Ward, who also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and RBI single, allowed only four batters on base while McMurry struck out four while giving up five walks and six runs in five innings.
Russellville put runners in scoring position in the first three innings but McMurry, a University of Alabama-Birmingham signee, pitched his way out of each inning and forced a double play groundout to end a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third.
The Golden Tigers broke through in the fifth inning with small-ball tactics as McMurry was pulled from the game after walking the first two batters and giving up six runs.
Jacob Daniel drove in Caleb Mitchell, Torey Baird converted a bases-loaded bunt to score Jake Ward and Corey Flanagan and Cory Trapp singled home Daniel to put Russellville ahead 4-0. John Batchelor's double scored Ryan Romans and Trapp and Mitchell's RBI single scored Jesse Green to make it 7-0.
Russellville added two more runs in the sixth as Flanagan singled to lead off the inning and Trapp hit a sacrifice fly to put the Golden Tigers ahead 8-0. Batchelor also had a sacrifice fly to bring in Daniel for the final run.
Mitchell reached base in all four plate appearances with two walks, two steals and two singles, while Daniel finished 2-for-3 with two singles. Batchelor drove in three runs, while Trapp had two RBIs and pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save.
Russellville will host Deshler Thursday at 4:30 p.m.