The upper classmen of the Golden Tiger baseball team gather after a recent practice. RHS faces Alexandria on the road this Friday in the 5A quarterfinals.

The Golden Tigers made things look easy on Friday by beating the East Limestone Indians in the first two games of the series during the third round of the 5A baseball playoffs.

Game one saw Russellville jump on the board in the opening frame before tacking on multiple runs in each inning. The Indians didn’t have an answer for the hot bats of the Golden Tigers and the smothering pitching performance from Cody Greenhill who surrendered one run in five innings off of three hits.

Austin Bohannon and Judd Ward lead the way for the Golden Tigers racking up three hits and three RBIs each.

Head Coach Chris Heaps said he likes the way his team is starting to look.

“We are really turning it on at a good time,” Heaps said. “We are hitting the ball very well right now and our pitching is doing what I know they can do.”

The Golden Tigers broke things open in game one with a big second inning. Bohannon opened with a double before Colin Garrison roped a two-run single to right field. Reed Smith continued the rally with a two-out double that scored one before Ward tallied another RBI with a single.

The Golden Tigers tacked on six more runs—three in each of the next two innings—on the way to routing East Limestone 11-1 in the opening game of the series.

Jacob Green took the mound for Russellville in game two of the series under the lights and helped keep the East Limestone bats quiet as the Golden Tigers cruised to a 10-3 win to take the best-of-three series.

Once again Russellville jumped out early on the Indians and never let off the throttle. A six-run opening inning gave Green and the Golden Tigers all of the cushion they would need.

Bohannon lead the way again for Russellville as he racked up three more RBIs on two hits. Landon Oliver and Skyler Stevens also had two hits for the Golden Tigers.

Green, the Shelton State signee, surrendered three runs on eight hits and recorded eight strikeouts while getting the win.

The Golden Tigers outhit the Indians 11-8 in game two, but they also committed four errors in the final game.

Heaps said he likes the matchup coming up this weekend.

“They are a good ball club and they are going to be tough,” Heaps said. “They have solid fundamentals and they hit the ball well, but I think we have a deeper pitching staff.

“They have a guy, Cobb, their shortstop, and he is one of the best batters in the state, but we have guys that can matchup with him,” Heaps said. “We played them back in March and we came from behind to beat them 7-4. That was a turning point for us in the season because I saw exactly how good our team could be if we worked hard. And we always say that hard work beats talent when talent isn’t working hard.”

The Golden Tigers face Alexandria on Friday, May 8 on the road in a best of three series to see who advances to the 5A semi-finals.