PEMBROKE — After going over a week since earning a season-opening win against Anson, the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity baseball team suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday.
The JV Raiders made the trip to Purnell Swett High School to open the Sandhills Athletic Conference schedule, and fell in a marathon contest 21-12.
Between the two teams, 23 total base on balls were issued, and the JV Rams outhit the JV Raiders 18 to 14.
Richmond head coach Corey Wallace sent five pitchers to the mound across the seven innings of work, starting with sophomore Jude Howard. The five-pitcher effort yielded 12 walks and eight strikeouts.
After Howard’s 1 2/3 innings of work, sophomore lefties Caleb Talton and Matthew Walker combined for 2 1/3 innings and the freshman duo of Bryce Goodwin and Ethan Locklear each pitched one inning of relief.
Richmond took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first when freshman Ethan Clayton knocked an RBI double to right field. That scored Walker, who drew a leadoff walk.
Purnell Swett responded with a seven-run bottom of the first inning, using eight singles and two walks to take the six-run lead.
Locklear would add Richmond’s second run in the top of the second, a Walker Lambeth RBI double to left scored Howard in the third.
But a 13-run second inning by the Rams opened the game up to 21-3 after three complete frames.
Richmond made a run at the Rams in the final four innings, outscoring the home team 9-0. A five-run fourth inning was the Raiders’ best spurt, which started with a bases-loaded walk to Dexter Mabe, which scored sophomore Chandler Orr.
An infield single by Locklear in the next at-bat brought in Clayton, and Goodwin also hit an infield single with two outs to score Howard. Walker capped the inning with a double down the right field line, plating Mabe and Locklear.
A solo run in the fifth and a Walker RBI single in the sixth made it a 21-10 deficit. Mabe and Locklear ended the scoring for Richmond in the seventh.
Clayton had a team-high two doubles, while Lambeth, Talton and Walker each added a two-bagger. Walker led Richmond with three RBI and Lambeth delivered with a 3-for-4 performance.
Richmond (1-1, 0-1 SAC) will report back to the diamond at home on Friday and look to return to the win column against the Rams. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Raider Stadium.
