The Russellville varsity baseball team opened the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs with a two-game sweep of the Pleasant Grove Spartans.

RHS hosted Pleasant Grove on April 18 and the Golden Tigers took game one by a 12-2 score and followed the opening game victory with a 16-0 win. Both games were five-inning contests due to the 10-run rule and in game two, Brandt Cummings of RHS pitched a no-hitter.

Russellville (25-9) jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead in game one and added another run in the bottom half of the third and seven more in the fourth. Eli Boutwell had two hits and three RBI for the Golden Tigers. Michael Scofield added two hits and had one RBI. Devin Green and Brodie Vandiver both had a hit and two RBI while additional Russellville hits came from Daniel Askew, Brandt Cummings and Brayden Entrekin. Neyland Baker, Cayden Johns and Askew all contributed one RBI apiece.

Johns got the start on the mound and went four innings. The senior allowed two runs on five hits. Johns struck out six and walked one. Ty Engelthaler came on in relief and allowed no hits while striking out one batter.

In game two, Cummings struck out 12 Spartans and issued no walks during the no-hitter.

At the plate, the Golden Tigers scored four runs in both the third and fourth innings and followed with eight more in the top half of the fifth. Johns smacked three hits, including a double, and had three RBI. Baker had two doubles and four RBI. Entrekin had a triple and three RBI and Scofield also tripled and added a single and one RBI. Boutwell contributed a hit and two RBI while Devin Green had a single and one RBI. Cummings added a couple of singles.

Earlier in the week, Russellville held senior night while hosting Mars Hill to end the regular season. RHS got a 7-3 win over the Panthers with Devin Green and Michael Scofield picking up two hits and two RBI each. Cummings had a triple and one RBI, Vandiver had a hit and Johns drove-in a run. RHS used five pitchers and they were Johns, Baker, Boutwell, Engelthaler and Sappington.

Next up for Russellville will be a round-two playoff series at Leeds. The Greenwave defeated Boaz in two of three games to advance in round one.