ROCKINGHAM — It was deja vu for the Lumberton High School baseball team Thursday, seeing itself shut out for the second night in a row against the Richmond Raiders.
The only things that were different were the starting pitcher and the amount of runs the home team scored. Richmond rolled to a 7-0 victory, extending its winning streak to eight games.
Senior right-hander Cameron Carraway returned to the mound for the first time in over a week, tossing a complete game shutout on three hits, three walks and six strikeouts. He earned his third win of the season.
In Wednesday’s game, senior teammate Hunter Parris was also lights out on the hill, holding the Pirates scoreless on two hits and just 68 pitches. The back-to-back shutouts pushed Richmond’s total to four on the season, and the first two of the current streak.
Over the last eight wins, the Raiders have outscored their opponents 40-12.
“Cameron’s arm was fresh,” head coach Ricky Young said. “He wasn’t in the zone as much early, but he was able to settle down. He only allowed three hits and we played really solid defense behind him. That’s been the story for us this season.”
To aid Carraway’s performance on the mound, the Raiders used three-run innings in the bottom of the first and third frames to put the game away. Seniors Tyler Bass (double) and Brett Young (error) led off the home half of the first against Pirate pitcher Bryce Stueck.
Bass would move to third on the error, and score when catcher Seth Odum made a throwing error trying to catch Young stealing second. Fellow senior Jake Ransom would connect on a 2-0 pitch for a double, and Young would score when Carraway helped his own cause with an RBI single to center.
Ransom would trot home a couple of at-bats later on a passed ball to make it 3-0.
The Richmond bats would strike again in the third, starting with a Ransom RBI base knock to right, scoring Young (hit-by-pitch). A walk to Carraway and an error allowed senior Garet Weigman to reach safely, setting up a Garret Richardson RBI single to left.
Evan Hudson would cap the inning with a sacrifice fly to left, plating Carraway, who had advanced to third on Richardson’s single.
Both teams would go down in order for the next inning and a half before Richardson added the final tally of the night in the fifth. With two on and one out, Richardson grounded out to third base, but saw Carraway race home safely.
Of Richmond’s six total hits, Carraway and Ransom had two each, both slapping a double. Carraway, Ransom and Young all scored twice, while Richardson’s two RBIs were a game-high. Getting the other two hits for the Raiders were Bass and Richardson.
“We had two three-run innings, which was good enough to win,” Young concluded. “We were able to spread out the hits tonight and were able to get runners in when we got them on. I’m proud of the way we’re competing on every pitch. That’s a recipe for success.”
Richmond (12-3, 9-1 SAC) will look to feed the streak on Saturday when the Raiders travel to non-conference Southeast Guilford High School (9-4). First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
