ROCKINGHAM — Completing the three game sweep against Western Harnett on Wednesday, the junior varsity Richmond Renegades earned a 9-3 win.
Following back-to-back mercy-rules wins, Wednesday’s game went the full seven innings. Richmond collected nine hits and used rising freshman Jason Walker’s strong start to improve to 5-1 on the summer season.
Walker allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits through five innings, while striking out seven batters and walking one. Fellow rising freshman Riley Brown closed the final two scoreless innings on the mound, giving up two hits and striking out a batter.
“Jason and Riley are a really good combination together,” head coach Corey Wallace said. “Jason threw it well, but he struggled with his control early. Once he minimized those early mistakes, he battled back and hit his spots in the zone.
“Riley did a great job coming in to pitch in the sixth,” he continued. “He threw strikes and he was able to shut the door using really good finesse and accuracy.”
Western Harnett used three singles to score two runs in the top of the first inning, but Richmond’s bats answered with three runs in the bottom half.
With one out, rising sophomores Davis Faw and Vance Goodwin singled, and with both runners in scoring position, rising sophomore Cain Hunsucker emptied the bases with a two-RBI triple down to the left field corner.
Hunsucker gave the JV Renegades an early 3-2 lead when he stole home with two outs.
Walker pitched a 1-2-3 top of the second and escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the third with a strikeout and a fly out to center.
Rising freshman pitcher Jason Walker pitched five innings and earned the win in Wednesday’s game against Western Harnett. (Kyle Pillar)
Richmond tacked on a solo run in the bottom of the third when Brown grounded out to first, scoring rising freshman Gray Maultsby (single). Fellow rising freshman Jeremiah Ritter also had a double in the inning, Richmond’s only other extra-base hit.
Another quick top half of the fourth saw Walker retire Western Harnett’s batters in order, which opened the door for a five-run bottom of the fourth for the JV Renegades.
Rising eighth graders Jabari Douglas and Jason Gainey led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and a sacrifice bunt by C.J. Jenkins moved both runners into scoring position. An RBI base knock in the next at-bat by Caden Nolan scored Douglas and moved Gainey to third.
Leadoff batter Tyler Graham recorded an RBI when he reached safely on a fielder’s choice, plating Gainey. A throwing error on the same play allowed Nolan to move to third, and Graham later swiped second.
Faw hit a hard grounder to second and reached on an error, advancing Nolan 90 feet to score. Goodwin was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Hunsucker collected his team-leading third RBI of the game when he was plunked in the next at-bat.
Closing the scoring in the inning was rising sophomore Zane Searcy, who poked an RBI single to right field, scoring Faw to make it a 9-2 lead.
“Cain has done an excellent job blocking the ball and understanding the situations on defense,” Wallace said. “He’s picked up a lot the last six months and he’s starting to swing the batter better, a lot more level. His triple helped us get out of an early deficit.”
Western Harnett scored its final run of the game in the top of the fifth, using a fielder’s choice to second to score a runner who reached to leadoff the frame.
Richmond stranded two runners on base in the fifth, Brown pitched his way out of a two-on, two-out pinch in the sixth and the JV Renegades left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth.
Collecting one hit each were Hunsucker (triple), Ritter (double), and singles by Douglas, Faw, Gainey, Goodwin, Maultsby, Nolan and Searcy. Adding to Hunsucker’s three RBIs were one each from Brown, Faw, Graham, Nolan and Searcy.
Faw had a team-high two runs scored, while seven of his teammates all scored once.
Rising sophomore Zane Searcy connects on an opposite-field RBI single during Richmond’s 9-3 win on Wednesday. (Kyle Pillar)
“The difference between yesterday and today was Western Harnett’s pitchers were throwing strikes, so we had to swing the bat to get runners on base,” Wallace closed. “We had to battle and it took us some time to get it going, but we had a really good fifth inning.”
The JV Renegades (5-1) will return to action next week with a two-game set against Pinecrest. Tuesday’s game will be away, followed by a home game on Thursday. Both games will begin at 4:30 p.m.
Note: The varsity Renegades did not play Wednesday, but will host Southern Lee on Friday. The team will have off next week since Pinecrest does not have a varsity team.
