ROCKINGHAM — Senior baseball player James Eason has been named the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week presented by Rockingham NC Self Storage.
The Richmond Senior High School baseball team was the only sports program to compete over spring break. The Raiders won one of their four games at the Jack Sink Baseball Classic hosted by Myers Park High School.
Eason played a pivotal role in picking up the team’s ninth victory of the season, which secured his fourth career recognition. He’s been named twice for soccer and once for bowling.
Athletic Profile
Year: Senior
Spring sport: Baseball
Position: Pitcher/Infielder
Varsity experience: 3 seasons
Other sports: Soccer, bowling
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH JAMES EASON
With the start of the final nine-week grading period beginning Monday, Eason is in the final stretch as a student-athlete at Richmond. Like many of his teammates, he’s a dual-enrollment student at Richmond and Richmond Community College.
During the first semester, Eason made A/B honor roll with his four classes. He earned As in Annual Production, English 111 and Weight Training Honors, while earning a B in Math 171. At the start of the new marking period, Eason had a 4.05 weighted GPA.
This spring, he’s taking two more classes at Richmond — Economics and Personal Finance Honors and English IV Honors — and two courses at the college — Biology 110 and English 112.
“My favorite class is Economics and Personal Finance with Ms. (Morgan) Tedder,” Eason shared. “It’s a chill class and we do work. It’s teaching me about preparing for the future, taxes and how to balance a checkbook.”
Eason plans to attend a four-year university and play baseball in college after he graduates in June.
“COMPLETE GAME” WITH JAMES EASON
Richmond lost its first three games in the Jack Sink tournament to East Mecklenburg, Myers Park and Charlotte Christian. Stopping the three-game skid, Eason produced on the mound and at the plate in the team’s finale against Caldwell Academy.
The Raiders defeated the Eagles 4-2 behind a complete game from Eason, his third complete game in six starts this season. He struck out a single-game career-high 11 batters in the win, while allowing two earned runs on three hits and no walks.
Over the course of the four games, Eason batted .375 with a single, two doubles and one run batted in. He also drew three free passes and didn’t strike out.
Against Caldwell Academy, Eason faced four or fewer batters in six of his seven innings of work. He retired the side in order on strikeouts in the third and also had a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Eason also collected both of his doubles in the win, driving in a run in the bottom of the second inning to make it 2-0.
Through six pitching appearances this season, Eason has pitched a team-high 32 innings with a 2.19 earned run average and 32 strikeouts. He’s ranked second in the Sandhills Athletic Conference in innings pitched, third in Ks and sixth in ERA (minimum of 10 innings pitched).
Offensively in 14 games, Eason is batting .225 with nine hits (including three doubles) and nine runs batted in. He’s drawn five base on balls and has a .676 on-base plus slugging percentage.
The Raiders (9-5, 5-2 SAC) will play three games this week, starting with their series opener with Lee County High School (11-5, 4-2 SAC) Tuesday. The home game will start at 7 p.m.
RAPID RESPONSE VIDEO WITH JAMES EASON
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week. There is no Female Student-Athlete of the Week due to no teams playing over spring break.
