The Russellville High School varsity baseball team opened the 2014 season on the road Saturday with an 8-2 win against Union.
Clayton Meyer recorded the win with nine strikeouts. Caleb Harrison led Russellville hits with a double, two singles and two RBI. Meyer and Chase Smith each had a double and two RBI as well. Alex Thompson had two singles and one RBI and Nick Haslag had a single and two RBI.
"This was a complete team win and our kids really competed," Russellville Coach Lucas Branson said. "Our offense did a better job of putting pressure on Union and that really started with Ryland (Johnson) and Alex (Thompson) at the bottom of the lineup getting on base and giving our first and third batters a chance to drive them in. Clayton was outstanding on the mound in his first start of the season and he really wanted to finish it off and struck out two in the last inning."
Earlier Saturday, Russellville lost 7-0 to Rolla. Chase Smith recorded the loss with six strikeouts. Harrison led Indian hits with a double and a single. Tanner Morrow, Zach Voss, Thompson and Seth Kuda each contributed a single.
"We struggled overcoming our mistakes, giving Rolla a lot of extra opportunities and base runners with walks and errors," Branson said. "We were behind in a lot of counts at the plate and that caused our kids to be more defensive hitters than aggressive hitters. But overall, this was a pretty good day for us competing against bigger schools (Class 5 Rolla and Class 4 Union). It was good for us to get some game action and see what we need to work on the next few weeks to continue to improve."
The Indians will be back in action Thursday at the Show-Me Conference Tournament. Russellville will play at California Monday, March 31, at 5 p.m.