ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Senior High School junior varsity baseball team continued its hot start to the 2019 campaign with a walk-off win against Pinecrest High School on Tuesday, before suffering its first loss of the season two nights later in Southern Pines.
The Raiders (5-1) and head coach Ralph Butler began their season with a five-game winning streak that saw wins over Anson, Union Pines and Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents Purnell Swett (two wins) and Pinecrest high schools.
Johnson walks off against Patriots, Lampley earns first win
Extending the streak to five games was the Raiders’ 3-2 win over Pinecrest in eight innings on Tuesday. Freshman Alston Johnson recorded the game-winning walk-off hit in the home half of the eighth, plating freshman Caleb Talton.
Fellow freshman JD Lampley got the inning started with a two-out line drive single to right-center field. Talton was put in as a courtesy runner for Lampley, who was Richmond’s pitcher at the time.
Fellow freshman Cameron Way followed up Lampley’s at-bat with a single of his own, moving Talton into scoring position. That’s when Johnson stepped up and brought the winning run home on an RBI-single.
In the home half of the fourth inning, sophomore Tony Gathings had a sacrifice bunt that scored Way to tie the game at two. Lampley drew four walks before reaching base on a single to set up the game-winning run.
Starting on the hill was freshman Harley Honeycutt, who was replaced by freshman Jude Howard after three innings. Howard also tossed three innings, as Lampley came in and shut the door in the final two innings for his first career win.
“Harley didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled and kept us in it,” Butler said. “Jude did an outstanding job of throwing strikes and kept batters off balance. JD closed it out, and it took all three guys to win – they threw the ball well.”
Patriots split series in finale
Two nights later on Thursday, the two teams met in Southern Pines for the regular-season series finale. It was the Patriots who won on their home field, handing Richmond its first loss of the season in a 4-2 contest.
Sophomore Michael Pettitt started on the mound, and was replaced by Cameron Way. Butler noted that “they both pitched well enough for us to get the win” but the defense behind them didn’t make the necessary plays. He added that “multiple unearned runs are hard to overcome on the road against good teams.”
Offensively, Alston Johnson and Way both went 1-for-2 with a walk, with Way scoring both of Richmond’s runs. Sophomore Tremel Jones knocked an RBI-single in the loss.
“We had a chance at the end, but fell short,” Butler concluded. “We left too many people on base in scoring position and had some costly errors lead to some unearned runs. I have to give credit to (Pinecrest’s) pitcher, he was very effective.
“We’ll do a better job preparing the guys so they can make adjustments depending on the situation.”
The JV Raiders will play Jack Britt High School twice next week, starting on the road in Fayetteville on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Game information and statistics provided by Ralph Butler.
