Russellville baseball rolls past Belle in summer action

Russellville outfielder Nolan Schroer reaches out to catch the ball during Monday's game against Belle at Russellville High School.
Russellville outfielder Nolan Schroer reaches out to catch the ball during Monday's game against Belle at Russellville High School.

RUSSELLVILLE - Russellville coach Lucas Branson already knew he wasn't going to have a fall baseball season during the 2019-20 school year. With the Indians starting up their football program, baseball was going to become a one-season sport at the small Cole County school.

What he couldn't have predicted was also losing his spring season to COVID-19. Just like that, Russellville went from having baseball in the fall and the spring to not having a season at all.

"It's been challenging," Branson said after Russellville defeated Belle 12-6 in a nine-inning summer league game Monday.

"When you start seeing the news that happened in early March, I told the kids around the Monday of the second week of practice when we started seeing professional sports cancellations that I knew it was going to keep going. Sure enough, the NCAA cancels sports, and at that point, we knew that it was very likely that we were going to be out for a while, and we had to prepare ourselves mentally for the possibility of not being able to play."

Russellville normally held a fall baseball season as a precursor to the championship season in the spring. However, with the addition of the football program this past school year, the Indians will now only play baseball in the spring.

"That's for the better, having a football program, because that's going to add to the experience for our kids," said Branson, who is also the athletic director. "It's giving our kids opportunities to do things they haven't done before. That's a great thing for us."

Russellville was primed to win its fourth consecutive baseball district championship this spring, but that streak has been put on pause until next year. The Indians would have hosted the Class 2 District 9 Tournament in May.

"It's tough for them, but they're a resilient group," Branson said. "They've faced some challenging moments in their high school career."

In the meantime, Russellville is one of several area high school baseball programs giving their players a chance to play together this summer.

Monday was the fifth outing of the summer for Russellville baseball. The Indians previously played a pair of doubleheaders against Linn, a doubleheader against Iberia and a nine-inning game against Eldon.

"We're giving them an opportunity to play throughout the summer in some games," Branson said. "We're picking and choosing when to focus on what would have been our spring team versus what will be our team for next year."

Russellville and Belle were tied at 1 through three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Trenton Morrow - who would have been aiming for his second all-state honor in the spring - gave his team a much-needed lift. Morrow crushed a 1-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a pinch-hit home run to put Russellville ahead 2-1.

"Trent's been in some big moments for his career," Branson said. " This is a good experience for him to build toward his college career."

Branson was frustrated when Russellville had the top of the order due up in the third inning and couldn't score a run. The Indians made up for it by batting around the order in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring nine runs to stretch their lead to 11-3.

"The kids in those positions tonight are what could be our top three or four hitters in 2021," Branson said. "We've had a few nights where we've played with that lineup, and they're learning."

Landon Plochberger made his fourth start on the mound this summer. He struck out three batters in three innings and worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first.

"He was going to be a guy who filled that role this spring," Branson said.

The Indians used five pitchers in relief. Jesse Daniels had three strikeouts in two innings, while Matthew Miller, Dawson Koch and Jake Schulte each had two strikeouts in one inning. Nolan Schroer added another strikeout in his inning of relief.

"We've got a lot of pitching," Branson said. "That's been one of our strengths for the last several years. But we've got some guys that didn't get to pitch in some big moments in the spring that would have, so I've tried to give them more innings."

Plochberger led the hitting attack, going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double and two RBI. Alex Oligschlaeger drove in three runs, Charlie Miller hit a two-run double and Logan Cinotto scored three runs for the Indians.

Jeb Seaver and Lane Feeler each had three hits to lead Belle.

Russellville (7-0-1) will host Eugene for a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday. It will also be Senior Day for the Indians, who would have had seven seniors this spring: Morrow, Koch, Matthew Miller, Braden Hickey, Cooper Basnett, Nikolas Graham and Collin Lueckenotte.

"We want to give our kids every opportunity to get to have what they missed," Branson said. "It's going to be fun to let those guys have their moment."

And even though the district tournament was canceled, the Indians will cap their summer schedule by hosting a 10-team, double-elimination tournament July 20-23.

"For us, we needed to have something to work toward," Branson said. "We had talked about, from the end of last May, having something to work toward.

"We're giving the kids a chance to play in a more competitive environment that just a typical summer league game."