Russellville defeats St. Elizabeth 9-3

The Russellville baseball teams hosted St. Elizabeth April 8, where the varsity Indians defeated the Hornets 9-3.

Clayton Meyer recorded the win with four strikeouts and allowed only one hit.

"Clayton Meyer pitched really well and put us in a position to get started in the conference with a win," Russellville Coach Lucas Branson said. "Our offense was a little sluggish early, but put together a couple of nice innings."

Tanner Morrow and Meyer each had a double, a single and two RBI. Chase Smith and Zach Voss each contributed two hits and one RBI each. Clayton Thompson had two hits as well. Alex Thompson contributed a single and two RBI.

Russellville won the JV game 3-2.

"Caleb Harrison made his first (pitching) start this year and threw pretty well to keep us in the game to get the big walk off hit by Cole Freeman," Branson said.

Freeman and Seth Kuda led the Indians' JV hits with one hit each and one RBI each.

The Indians were on the road Thursday, where they defeated Osage 7-4. Thompson recorded the win with five strikeouts.

"Alex Thompson did a great job of throwing strikes and attacking their hitters," Branson said. "The solid defense behind him really helped. We jumped out to a big lead early and that gave us some confidence."

Meyer led Russellville hits with two doubles and three RBI. Morrow had two singles and one RBI, and Thompson contributed two singles.

Russellville's JV defeated Osage 15-5. Adam Kennedy recorded the JV win for the Indians with three strikeouts.

Cole Dawson and Cole Freeman led Russellville JV hits with one hit each and two RBI each.

The indians played Harrisburg Friday, where Russellville suffered a loss to the Bulldogs, 8-1.

"This was a frustrating loss," Branson said. "We were unable to make a couple key plays early in the game and allowed them two big innings. Our offense couldn't really catch a break as the balls we hit hard were right at Harrisburg and we have to give credit to them for making the plays when they needed to."

Meyer led Russellville hits with a home run and one RBI. Nick Haslag, Morrow, Chase Smith, Caleb Harrison, Clayton Thompson and Ryland Johnson each contributed one hit.

Smith pitched three innings and recorded two strikeouts. Meyer pitched one and 1/3 innings and had one strikeout, and Thompson pitched two innings.

Russellville's JV defeated Harrisburg, however, the final score was not available.

Chase Pistel recorded the win with five strikeouts. Cory Minor led the Indians' JV hits with two and two RBI. Kennedy had one hit and two RBI, and Seth Kuda contributed one hit and one RBI.

"After a slow start in the first inning, our pitchers settled down and threw pretty well," Branson said. "Offensively, we took advantage of some walks to get a big lead in the bottom of the first."

Russellville will play South Callaway at 5 p.m. Thursday at Mokane.