RHS rolls past Lawrence County
By Staff
Scot Beard
Ryan Bowling dominated on the mound and Russellville's batters had no trouble reaching base as the Golden Tigers routed Lawrence County 12-2 Tuesday afternoon.
The visiting Red Devils looked like they were going to take control early when the lead off batter drew a walk and the second batter singled to center field.
The third batter hit into a double play, but the lead runner was able to advance to third base. The clean-up hitter then flied out to center to end the threat and Lawrence County would only have three other runners reach scoring position the entire game.
Russellville's first tow hitters were retired before Nathan Vincent picked up an infield single to reach base.
Mark Davis followed with a double and John Batchelor drew a walk to load the bases for the Golden Tigers.
John T. Watkins then singled to left to drive in Vincent and Davis to give Russellville a 2-0 lead.
Matthew Duncan led of the second inning by drawing a walk for Russellville and quickly stole second base. Mitch Mitchell followed with a single to center field to move Duncan to third.
T.J. Lindsey reached on a fielder's choice as Lawrence County tried to get Duncan out at the plate. Duncan was safe and Russellville had runners at first and second with nobody out.
Vincent singled to load the bases. Mitchell scored as Davis reached first on a fielder's choice and Lindsey scored when Watkins was hit by a pitch to extend the Golden Tigers' lead to 5-0.
Russellville added another run in the fourth inning when Vincent crushed the ball over the left field fence for a no-doubt-about-it home run.
Duncan scored again in the fifth inning when he reached base on a single and advanced to third on an errant pick-off throw by the Lawrence County pitcher. He came across the plate on a single by Mitchell.
Later in the inning Lindsey singled then moved to third on a double by Jake Ward. Lindsey scored to put Russellville ahead 8-0 when Davis reached base on an error.
Lawrence County led off the sixth inning with a double. The runner then advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field. The Red Devils added another run in the inning to cut the deficit to six runs.
Lindsey, Casey Herring, Duncan and Mitchell all added runs in the bottom of the sixth for Russellville to end the game by mercy rule 12-2.
Bowling pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three hits and striking out nine. He issued five walks. Duncan pitched the last two outs of the sixth in relief.
Lindsey, Duncan and Mitchell had two hits and scored three runs each to lead Russellville. Vincent had two hits and scored two runs while Ward and Davis had one hit each.
