On any winning team, there is always a group of strong leaders. That is true with the Russellville High School baseball squad, and one of those leaders is senior Jackson Lindsey.

The first baseman and powerful left-handed batter has signed with the University of Alabama in Huntsville and will continue chasing his baseball dreams as a member of the NCAA Division II Chargers.

UAH is a member of the Gulf South Conference and is led by head coach Hunter Royer and assistant BJ Holloway.

“I’m really excited about it. It’s always been my dream, just like a lot of other kids playing baseball,” Lindsey said. “When you start dreaming, you want to play college baseball and then move on to pro baseball. When I got the opportunity, I knew it was something that I definitely wanted to do.

“It took a little bit of deciding because I ended up having some options between some JUCOS and a Division III and then UAH,” Lindsey added. “I went on some visits, and then when I went to UAH, it was just kinda like, ‘I feel at home here.’”

Lindsey said he liked the coaches at UAH, and he also knows a couple of players on the UAH team. One of those players is former Golden Tiger Landon Ezzell, a redshirt sophomore who is batting over .300 this season with the Chargers.

Before heading to college, Lindsey and his teammates have some unfinished business after most of the 2020 season was cancelled. The Golden Tigers are 12-3 this season and recently ranked No. 1 in Class 5A, with a goal of winning the state title.

Russellville head coach Chris Heaps is quick to point to Lindsey’s work ethic and willingness to put in the time necessary to reach a level of success. “He’s a doubles, hard line-drive and hard ground ball hitter,” Heaps explained. “He’s a guy that hits balls really hard, and he has worked. He and his dad have spent so much time putting in that extra time outside of practice and on the weekends.

“He’s a product of his process, and he’s getting a chance to do something most kids might never get to do because they won’t have that process.”

Lindsey is the son of Drs. Jim and Laura Lindsey.