By Brannon King, For The Tribune
RUSSELLVILLE – The Leeds Greenwave traveled to Russellville to take on the defending AHSAA Class 5A state champion Golden Tigers in round three of the baseball playoffs and were swept in two games to end the season. Russellville took game one of the best-of-three quarterfinal series by a 15-4 final score in six innings and followed that up with an 11-0 victory in a five inning game.
The two teams waited out a long rain delay during game two that came just before the start of the third inning. After the tarp was removed from the field and play resumed, both starting pitchers remained in the game.
Nathan Brockway of Russellville had a big night at the plate. In game one, the senior had two home runs including a grand slam and seven RBIs. He went 2-for-3 in the second game with a double and two additional RBIs. Teammate, Andrew Hatton went a combined 4-for-5 in the series including a two-run homer.
Game 1: Russellville 15, Leeds 4
Leeds jumped out to a 1-0 first inning advantage on an RBI single by Caden Vance before RHS answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. After the Golden Tigers grew their lead to 6-1 after two innings, LHS added a third inning RBI by Vance on a ground-out and a fourth inning RBI single by Alex Bradford to make the score 6-3. Russellville tacked on three runs in the bottom of the fourth and another run in the fifth before Bradford brought home another Leeds run on a fielder’s choice in the sixth. Five runs in the bottom half of the inning by RHS ended the contest that was capped by a two-run Hatton home run.
Drew Gulock joined Bradford and Vance with two hits each for Leeds. Conner Nelson and Seth Pardue had one hit apiece.
Andrew Howard got start on the mound for LHS and went four innings allowing nine runs with four being earned. He gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out three. The lefty was followed in relief by Seth Pardue and Nolan Moore. Banks Langston went distance and got the win for Russellville. He struck out seven and walked two.
Game 2: Russellville 11, Leeds 0
Game two was all Russellville with the Golden Tigers scoring five runs in the second inning, one in the third and five more in the fifth to advance to the semifinals next week against Madison Academy.
Jarod Latta was the game two starter for Leeds and he went four innings. Latta gave up five earned runs on 9 hits before being relieved by William Landers.
Russellville (31-11) got four innings from starter Logan White. He allowed a hit each to Conner Nelson and Andrew Howard. The junior lefty struck out four and walked two. Samuel Pace struck out two during the game’s final inning and allowed no hits or walks.