The Russell County Lakers (13-4, 1-1) played their first two district games of the season, losing 3-2 to Cumberland County (3-9, 1-1) on Tuesday and defeating Clinton County (8-6, 2-1) by a score of 2-0 on Thursday.
Against Cumberland, Russell County only recorded four hits — one apiece by Camden Carpenter, Trace Stringer, Nick Aaron, and Aidan Antle.
Cumberland County started the game off with two runs in the first inning, and the Lakers responded in the second inning with an RBI sacrifice fly from Bryce Cowell to score courtesy runner Alex Reynolds. This cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the next inning, Antle drove in Carpenter to tie the score at 2-2, where the score remained until the top of the seventh inning. Cumberland County scored on a fielder’s choice to go up 3-2 in the final frame and picked up the victory after not allowing any Laker base runners in the bottom of the seventh.
“When you play district games, you have to be prepared to play,” head coach David Rexroat said. “Our team wasn’t ready to play Tuesday night … I give Cumberland County a lot of credit. They had a plan of attack to keep us off balance.”
On Thursday night, the Lakers picked up their first district victory of the season against Clinton County.
Despite a hitting lull in both district games, Russell County picked up the win with a strong performance from Cody Luttrell on the mound. In the complete game victory, Luttrell only allowed two hits and walked one batter while striking out 16, giving him 33 total strikeouts in his last two starts.
“Cody Luttrell pitched a really good game,” Rexroat said. “He’s starting to get a lot of looks from colleges, and he’s going to get more looks. I’m expecting some bigger offers for him over the next couple of weeks.”
The Lakers opened the scoring with a Nathan Lawson solo home run in the fourth inning.
Reynolds scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning to give Russell County the 2-0 win.
“We came back strong (after the loss to Cumberland), but we still didn’t hit the ball like we have in the past,” Rexroat said. “You have to give them credit because Clinton County gave us a good game. We’ve got four more district games this season, and I’m expecting us to be more prepared to play (in those games).”
Doubleheader in Corbin
On Saturday, April 23, Russell County defeated Corbin 8-1 and lost to Pikeville by a score of 4-2.
Against Corbin, the Lakers had 13 hits, led by Isaac Roy, who went 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in a game-high three runs.
Lawson also recorded three hits, and Cowell added two hits and two RBI of his own.
Lawson picked up the win on the mound after pitching all seven innings, recording 11 strikeouts while allowing only four hits and one run (none earned).
In Saturday’s loss to Pikeville, the Lakers fell behind 3-0 after the first two innings. Pikeville added another run in the fifth inning, but Carpenter drove in a run in the bottom of the fifth to put the Lakers on the scoreboard and cut their deficit to 4-1. Lawson hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-2. The Lakers then loaded the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to bring in any runs.
