Athens sweeps Golden Tigers
Russellville’s Austin Hulsey homered, tripled, doubled, singled and had five RBIs against Athens Monday during the second round of the state baseballl playoffs. The Golden Tigers lost both games.
ATHENS — The Russellville baseball team put up some impressive numbers this season including a 31-game winning streak, but that is nothing more than a fond memory now as the Golden Tigers fell to Athens in the second round of the state playoffs Monday.
The Golden Tigers finished the season with a 34-9 record, which was the second best record in school history. The seven seniors, however, will likely remember the two losses to Athens that ended their season.
“We had a great year,” Russellville coach David Ward said. “I hate it for the seniors. They played a lot of baseball for Russellville.”
The Golden Tigers lost the first game 4-2 and allowed a 4-1 lead to slip away in a 10-7 loss during the second game.
Athens wasted little time getting the lead in the first game as the leadoff hitter singled and came around to score for the 1-0 lead. The Golden Eagles extended their advantage to 4-0 by the end of the third inning.
Athens’ Luke Mould retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced before Austin Hulsey put the Golden Tigers on the scoreboard with a solo homer in the fifth inning. Logan Ezzell followed Hulsey with a double and scored on a single by T.J. Lindsey.
Matthew Duncan doubled and J.T. Watkins singled for Russellville.
Nathan Vincent took the loss for Russellville, giving up four runs on nine hits.
Needing a win in the second game to keep their season alive, the Golden Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to build a 4-1 lead.
Lindsey, Watkins and Vincent all singled to open the game before John Batchelor reached on an error to push across a run and tie the game 1-1. Hulsey then cleared the bases with a triple.
“We came out swinging the bats then we relaxed a little,” Ward said.
Athens scored a pair of runs in the second inning to cut the Russellville lead to 4-3. The Golden Eagles took the lead for good in the third inning by scoring five runs.
Russellville cut the deficit to 8-4 when Hulsey singled and scored on a double by Ezzell. Athens padded its lead with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Golden Tiger pitcher Ryan Bowling struggled through the first four innings, allowing 10 runs on 10 hits. He settled down in the final three innings and retired nine of 10 batters faced during that span, but the damage had already been done.
Ward said the Golden Tigers issues were not with pitching, but miscues in the field.
“We missed a few bang-bang plays and missed a couple of plays in the outfield,” Ward said. “We played good defense for the most part all season long.”
Ezzell hit a solo homer for Russellville in the fifth while Lindsey drew a walk in the sixth and later scored on a double by Hulsey, who finished the game with four RBIs.
Athens will face Boaz in the state quarterfinals beginning Friday.
