ROCKINGHAM — Two juniors from the Richmond Senior High School baseball team were named to the 2023 All-Sandhills Athletic Conference team.
James Eason and Camron Seagraves earned the postseason recognition, which was announced on Friday following Southern Lee High School’s loss in the 3A regional championship round of the state playoffs.
Seagraves returned to the All-Conference team for the second straight season, with Eason being named for the first time in his career.
The Raiders went 14-11 this spring, finishing fourth in the SAC standings with a 6-6 mark. Richmond made the 4A East postseason for the second straight year, but fell to Millbrook in the first round.
Eason and Seagraves both pulled double duty this season, serving as two of Richmond’s top producers at the plate and on the mound.
Pinecrest High School, which won the regular-season and conference tournament titles, swept the SAC’s top individual accolades. Colby Wallace was named “Pitcher of the Year,” Bryant Kimbrell was tabbed “Player of the Year” and Jeff Hewitt earned “Coach of the Year.”
James Eason
Junior shortstop/pitcher
Splitting his time between shortstop and pitcher, Eason also played some outfield for the Raiders during his second varsity season. He logged the most innings pitched on the team (49.2), was eighth in the SAC in earned run average (2.26) and struck out 38 batters.
Batting third in the lineup, Eason batted .320 during his junior campaign. He was fifth in the SAC with nine stolen bases and had a slugging percentage of .373. He helped the Raiders’ offense by recording 13 RBI and 18 runs scored.
Playing in all 25 games, Eason registered six multi-hit games and four multi-RBI outings.
“It’s very exciting,” Eason said. “But I still want to get better and work on things because I don’t want this to be the only time I make All-Conference. My defense gave me confidence to throw strikes and fill up the zone and try to do everything right.
“My coaches told me to hit gap to gap and go out to the plate with a clear head and a two-strike approach. Hopefully next year our hitting will get better and I think all-around, we’re going to have a good season.”
Camron Seagraves
Junior shortstop/pitcher
Campbell University commit
Trading places with Eason between the mound and shortstop, Seagraves also took on a new role as the Raiders’ leadoff hitter in 2023. Playing in 25 games, he ranked in the top-10 in the SAC in slugging percentage (.469, ninth), batting average (.358, 10th) and runs scored (22, 10th).
Leading the team in on-base percentage (.458), Seagraves finished the season as the SAC’s leading base stealer with 14. He also drove in 12 RBI and had a dozen multi-hit games and drove in multiple RBI four different times.
On the mound in his third varsity season, Seagraves threw 48.2 innings, had a 3.16 ERA and was fourth in the SAC with 87 strikeouts.
“This is a good accomplishment to make All-Conference two out of my three years,” Seagraves said. “Most of the reason why I got it was because of my hitting. I did well with my batting average, runs batted in and stolen bases. I contributed some with pitching, but felt like I could have done better.
“There was more pressure batting leadoff. I knew I had to get on if the team was going to win. I just tried to set the tone by getting on base. My biggest takeaway is that I need to attack hitters better as a pitcher.”
Note: All statistics in this article were used from MaxPreps.com.
