The Russellville Indians baseball team (9-4) shut out the Osage Indians 11-0 in five innings on April 19.
Osage had two runners on base to start the game; with two outs in the first inning, Russellville was able to chalk up a third and end the inning without giving up a run.
Russellville was able to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. With a runner at third base, Jesse Daniel drove in the run to give the Indians the lead.
Russellville pulled away emphatically in the bottom of the third inning, as the Indians scored eight runs to make it a 9-0 game.
The Indians loaded the bases after the first three batters reached their plates safely. Alex Oligschlaeger then drove in two runs on a double to left center field to make it 3-0. Christopher Seaver followed that up with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. Russellville added two more runs to make it 6-0 and, later in the inning, Landon Plochberger hit a three-run home run to center field to make it 9-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Russellville added two more runs to make it 11-0. Daniel drove in the first run of the inning to make it 10-0 with two outs and later, Laden Waggoner drove in the second run to make it 11-0.
In the top of the fifth inning, Osage had runners on first and second with two outs, but the game ended when the runner at second was thrown out by Isaiah Kauffman while trying to steal third.
Russellville scored its 11 runs on eight hits and had one error in the game. Osage had three hits and five errors in the game.
Indians head coach Lucas Branson said it was important to take advantage of those errors.
“Any time there is a chance to take advantage of our opponent’s mistakes, it is important,” Branson said. “That has been something we had struggled a bit with recently, so seeing that area (of) improvement was a big positive for us.”
Branson said he felt that the team did well with its at-bats during the game.
“I felt like our guys had some really good at-bats and were able to get into some advantageous hitters counts, so they could attack pitches in their best hitting zone,” Branson said. “Our overall hitting approach has continued to improve, so our players are starting to take things from practice into games and seeing the ball better and not getting behind in counts or taking defensive swings.”
Winning by a shut out helps the team’s confidence level, Branson said.
“It obviously helps our confidence level and that has been an area of focus for us, on building momentum as we enter the second half of the season,” Branson said.
Daniel led the Indians with two hits. Plochberger and Daniel led the team with three RBIs each, and Oligschlaeger added two RBIs. Nolan Schroer pitched four innings and gave up two hits and three walks while striking out eight batters for Russellville. Kauffman pitched one inning and gave up one hit and one walk while striking out two batters.
Russellville’s next game is at 5 p.m. April 22 at St. Elizabeth.