The Russellville Panthers gave heavily favored Franklin-Simpson a scare before falling 2-1 in their district baseball opener March 22 at Russellville's Kelly Russell Field.
The Wildcats scored their two runs in the second inning without benefit of a hit. Rylan Thomas led off the inning with a bunt and got to second on a throwing error. Brandon Maness walked and stole second. Thomas scored on a pitch that got past the catcher, with Maness advancing to third. When Ty Murray reached on the Panthers’ second error of the inning, Maness scored.
Russellville pitcher Colby Nichols shut the Wildcats down the rest of the way. The senior not only struck out 13 Cats, but pitched a no-hitter.
Coach Blake Crabtree’s Panthers scored their run in the sixth. Nichols reached on an error. T.K. Hampton advanced him on a groundout. Nichols moved to third on another F-S error, this one on George Ortiz’s grounder. Then Nichols scored on a sacrifice fly by Evan Humphrey.
Franklin veteran Tanner Spears pitched the first six innings and got the win. Austin Thomason worked the final inning for the save.
“Colby gave us a chance to win tonight. That’s two games in a row he’s done that,” Crabtree told sportswriter Brian Davis of the Franklin Favorite. “We just have to find a way to score some runs for our pitchers.”