RHS baseball takes on Albertville.

By Brannon King for the FCT

Strong pitching led Russellville to two home baseball wins Saturday as the Golden Tigers defeated Etowah 5-0 and Albertville 11-0.

In the first game of the day, Austin Kitterman threw a complete-game shutout, giving up only three hits and striking out six Blue Devils in the win.

Russellville (10-1) got on the board in the second inning when Cody Greenhill drew a bases-loaded walk.  The Golden Tigers scored again in the third inning when Landon Ezzell had a single that drove in a run.  Reed Smith had an RBI double, and Judd Ward drove in two with a single in the fourth inning to finish the scoring. The Golden Tigers had seven hits in the game, played clean defense and committed no errors.

Greenhill extended his scoreless innings pitched streak that covers the entire season so far by pitching five shutout frames in a complete-game win against Albertville in game two. Greenhill flirted with a no-hitter, but a strikeout pitch got away from the catcher in the last inning allowing a runner to reach first base and later on, Albertville got a hit.  The junior, right-hander had 10 strikeouts of Albertville batters in the game.

“We had some guys that swung it really well, and our pitching was outstanding today,” Russellville head coach Chris Heaps said after the two wins. “Austin Kitterman was very sharp in the first game.  He kept his fastball down in the zone very well, and his slider was a good wipeout pitch today.”

“Then Cody has a no-hitter going, and then the ball gets away from our catcher, and if we get that out, it’s a no-hitter instead of the guy behind him gets a hit,” Heaps said.  “He did outstanding today; I’m proud of our pitchers. I’m proud of the way our guys swung the bats. We’re starting to get a little bit honed in on the strike zone, and we’re starting to do a little better job of making good decisions, swinging at good pitches and staying in what we call our ‘good attack position.’  We’ve swung it well in the past, and I hope we are getting on track there.”

Austin Bohannon had a two RBI single in the first inning against Albertville to start the scoring for RHS.  The Aggies struggled in the field in the second inning, and Russellville made them pay. Russ Carpenter laid down a bunt, and the throw was wild, allowing a run to score to make it 3-0.  Then Carpenter scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.  Skylar Holland then picked up an RBI single, and Bohannon drove in another run on a fielder’s choice.

Bohannon picked up another RBI in the fourth inning with a bases-loaded walk. Bailey Thompson had a single that drove in a run to make it 8-0. Kitterman then drove in a run with a sacrifice fly; Greenhill added a run on a fielder’s choice; and Reed Smith finished off the scoring with an RBI double.