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Blue Devils hand Russellville first home loss, force decisive game three

RUSSELLVILLE - During their run to back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 2015 and 2016, the Russellville Golden Tigers faced elimination just once—after dropping game one of the championship series 9-1 to Faith Academy in Montgomery last May. The Golden Tigers bounced back to beat Faith twice the next day, securing their second straight Blue Map and their place in history.

Following an offensive power outage on Thursday that was both sudden and surprising, Russellville’s bid for a three-peat is already hanging in the balance. The Golden Tigers, who led 7-0 after the first two innings of their 2017 playoff opener against Mortimer Jordan, managed just one more run and four total hits over the next 11 innings, holding on for a 7-3 win in game one and then falling 3-1 in the nightcap.

The series will be decided by a winner-take-all game three on Friday at 5 p.m. at Russellville Baseball Stadium—where the Golden Tigers had not lost all season prior to coming up short against junior ace Dalton Hall and three Blue Devil relievers in Thursday’s second game.

Russellville (29-9 and ranked No. 3 in Class 5A by the ASWA) was an offensive juggernaut in ten regular-season home games, batting a collective .389 as a team with 21 homers and averaging 9.6 runs per game. After senior first baseman Skylar Holland followed Cody Greenhill’s two-out, two-run single in the second inning of game one with a three-run blast over the fence in left-center to make it 7-0, it looked as though Thursday was destined to bring more of the same.

Then it didn’t.

The Golden Tigers scratched out just two more hits the rest of game one and then went 2-for-23 at the plate in game two, finishing the doubleheader with just eight hits in 46 at bats (a .174 average). Down a run in the nightcap, they left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth; then, trailing 3-1 in the seventh, they put two runners on with nobody out but stranded them both as a last-gasp rally came up short.

Now, Russellville will have to beat the Blue Devils (25-13 and ranked No. 8) in Friday’s third game to keep alive their hopes of returning to Montgomery for a third straight season.

Greenhill (8-2) got the win on the mound in Thursday’s opener despite dealing with some uncharacteristic command issues. The senior ace walked only eight batters (none at home) in 64 innings during the regular season, but he issued three free passes on Thursday and also hit two batters. He needed 90 pitches (only 54 of which were strikes) to get through five innings, but he left with a 7-3 lead after retiring Nick Overton on a comebacker with the bases loaded to end the top of the fifth.

Greenhill allowed three runs (all unearned) on five hits and struck out six before giving way to reliever Rudy Fernandez, who finished off the win with a pair of scoreless innings.

After Greenhill’s best inning of the day, a five-pitch top of the first, the Golden Tigers took advantage of Blue Devil starter Joseph Swann’s command problems to score twice in the bottom half. Swann walked Colin Garrison and Judd Ward before plunking Landon Ezzell to load the bases with nobody out. Greenhill, who slugged a school-record-tying 15 home runs during the regular season, settled for a sacrifice fly to right, chasing home Garrison and moving Ward up to third. Mortimer Jordan then committed an error on a groundball by Holland, allowing Ward to score and make it 2-0.

Houston Kitterman followed with a single to right to load the bases again with one out, but Swann escaped the jam when Patrick Burkett snagged Tom Barkley Scott’s liner to third and stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play.

Greenhill pitched around a hit batter and a single in the top of the second, striking out two, and then Russellville broke it open in the bottom half. Noah Gist was hit by a pitch with one out, and Garrison drew another walk. Ward bunted for a hit to load the bases, but Swann recovered to strike out Ezzell for the second out. He got ahead of Greenhill 0-and-2 before the senior slugger worked his way back into the count and then scalded a hot shot right back through the box and into center field for a two-run single.

Holland followed with his fifth home run of the season and the 12th of his Golden Tiger career, a three-run shot into a stiff wind that made it 7-0.

Preston Jones relieved after the Holland homer and held Russellville to just two hits—an infield single by Scott in the third and a double by Fernandez in the sixth—the rest of the way. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, took advantage of a leadoff walk, an infield single and a two-out error to score their first run off Greenhill in the top of the third. They left two men on in the fourth and scored twice in the fifth, loading the bases on an error, a single and a hit batter and then getting a two-out, two-run single from Caleb Hays to cut the lead to 7-3. Jack Singley walked to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but Greenhill got Overton on a bouncer back to the mound to end the threat.

Fernandez pitched around an infield hit in the top of the sixth and a two-out single in the seventh to finish off Russellville’s 11th consecutive win overall. Holland went 1-for-3 and drove in four runs, and Greenhill was 1-for-2 with three RBIs. Ward went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, and Garrison walked twice and scored twice.

Hays finished 4-for-4 for the Blue Devils, who matched the Golden Tigers with six hits but left 10 runners on base.

Hall, a verbal commit to the University of Alabama, hooked up with Russellville senior Chad Wray, a South Alabama signee, for a great pitcher’s duel in game two. The teams had just two hits apiece through four-and-a-half scoreless innings before Burkett singled off Wray with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Hays flied to left for the second out, but Hall followed with a deep drive that bounced off the top of the left-field fence and over for a two-run homer to make it 2-0.

The Golden Tigers got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth without the benefit of a hit. Hall, a 6’4, 215-pound junior right-hander, retired the first two batters before issuing back-to-back walks to Holland and Ezzell to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Mortimer Jordan coach Shayne Carnes lifted Hall, who had thrown just 81 pitches, for reliever Trent Fletcher.

Kitterman greeted Fletcher with a hot shot to third that Burkett booted for an error, loading the bases. Fletcher then hit Scott with a pitch to force home pinch runner Devin Buckhalter and get Russellville on the board. Senior catcher Russ Carpenter fell behind Fletcher 0-and-2 before fouling off three straight pitches and eventually grounding out to second to end the inning.

The Blue Devils got that run back in the bottom of the sixth when Doug Moore followed a hit batter and a single with a one-out double to right. Judd Ward relieved Wray, who had thrown 119 pitches, with runners at second and third, retiring Burkett on a grounder to second and Hays on a fly ball to left to end the inning and keep it 3-1.

Fletcher hit Gist with a pitch to start the seventh and then walked Garrison, bringing Ward to the plate. Carnes went to the bullpen again, calling on left-hander Ian Ellerbrock to pitch to the lefty-hitting Ward. Ward bunted a couple of pitches foul up the third-base line before Ellerbrock got a called third strike on an inside fastball for the first out of the inning.

Carnes made one final pitching change and brought in Burkett, who quickly fell behind Greenhill 3-and-0. Greenhill took a strike and then popped to short for the second out, bringing Holland to the plate as Russellville’s final hope. Holland smoked a pitch to straightaway center, where Garrison McCleney (who was positioned several steps over toward the gap in right-center) raced to his right and made a leaping grab to end the game and seal the Blue Devils’ season-saving win.

Hall got the win, allowing one unearned run on two hits in 5.2 innings. He struck out four and walked four. Wray (5-3) pitched well but took the loss, allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out six and walked five.

Ward’s first-inning double and Scott’s infield single in the fifth were the Golden Tigers’ only two hits in game two. Moore led Mortimer Jordan with two hits.

The series now comes down to Friday’s game three, for which Russellville should have Holland on the mound. The senior right-hander has pitched well this season, compiling a record of 4-2 and a 2.39 ERA across 17 appearances, three of them starts. Holland has thrown 41 innings, allowing 40 hits, striking out 48 batters and walking 15.

Fernandez (8-0 with a 1.75 ERA) will also be available after throwing just 20 pitches in Thursday’s game one relief outing.

The winner of this series will face the winner between Arab (17-16) and No. 9 Pleasant Grove (21-10) in next week’s second round.

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