CAMERON — While the Richmond Raider baseball team sat through 81 minutes of lightning and rain delays Tuesday, head coach Eric Brown challenged his players to respond better to the unexpected hiatus than their opponent.
The Raiders answered their coach’s charge by winning their fifth straight game.
After two lightning delays and a rainstorm moved through Cameron, Richmond earned an 8-1 win over Union Pines High School. It was the first of two games of the Sandhills Athletic Conference series.
Peppering the scoreboard with at least one run in five of the seven innings, the Raiders’ offense was aided by a complete game by pitcher James Eason.
The senior right-hander threw his second one-run complete game of the season, reaching the pitch count during the final at-bat of the game.
Dialed in, Eason allowed just one earned run on five hits. He sat down seven Vikings via the punchout and didn’t allow any walks.
Getting the scoring started, senior first baseman Isaac Hinshaw recorded a team-high two hits and drove in a game-high three runs. Eason also helped his cause at the plate, driving in two runs.
Junior Landon Taylor and sophomore Caden Nolan each connected on a base hit to round out Richmond’s five-hit effort. Junior Jeremiah Ritter added an RBI.
Richmond’s offense had some spark to it early in the game against starting pitcher Dylan Benedict (three innings, four runs, four hits). Taylor and Ritter led off with back-to-back walks and sophomore Evan Hodges reached on an error in center field.
With two away and the bases still loaded, Hinshaw battled out of an 0-2 count to laser a line drive single back up the middle. Racing home were Taylor and Ritter to make it a 2-0 lead.
Eason stranded runners on first and second in the home half of the first to preserve the advantage.
In the top of the second, Ritter recorded his RBI on a fielder’s choice to second base, plating junior Jabari Douglas from third (error).
A 1-2-3 bottom half from Eason paved the way to another run for Richmond in the top of the third. A one-out single by Nolan, followed by a stolen base, put him in scoring position.
Facing a full count two batters later, Eason delivered with an RBI single to center field to increase the lead to 4-0.
Union Pines scored its lone run in the bottom of the third. A leadoff double later scored on a wild pitch.
Richmond scored two more runs in the fourth against relief pitcher Austin Mooring (three innings, four runs, one hit) to build its lead to 5-1.
Taylor, who led off the inning by reaching safely on an error, scored on a passed ball. A bases-loaded free pass to Eason in the next at-bat scored Ritter (walk).
Hinshaw put an exclamation point on his big night with a solo home run to lead off the final inning, a towering shot down the right field line that cleared the elevated wall. It was his first homer of the spring.
Courtesy runner Conner Phifer, running for Eason (walk), scored the game’s final run on a wild pitch by Chandler Ring (one inning). Eason sandwiched two popouts around a ground out to end the game.
The Raiders (8-2, 5-2 SAC) will have a quick turnaround and host the Vikings (4-7, 1-4 SAC) Wednesday at 7 p.m.
JV Raiders remain winless
The Richmond junior varsity baseball team played a doubleheader at home against Union Pines Tuesday.
The first game ended in a 1-1 tie and was called after five innings (time limit).
Richmond scored its lone run in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman Keith Cummings plated fellow freshman Jakob Trexler (walk) on a sacrifice fly to center field.
Cummings also had the JV Raiders’ only hit, a single in the third frame.
Freshman Michael Osentowski pitched all five innings for Richmond. He allowed one earned run on five hits and struck out six batters. Union Pines tied the game in the top of the second.
In the second game, the JV Raiders lost 6-2 in five innings (time limit). Cummings, Andrea Streeter and Preston Fann each had a single.
Starting the second game was Chase Woody (one inning, three runs, three hits). Steve James threw three innings in relief and allowed three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Richmond scored both of its runs in the second inning. Streeter and Cummings scored on a series of errors.
This season, the JV Raiders are now 0-7-1 overall with an 0-6-1 record against SAC opponents.
