SANFORD, N.C. — The junior varsity Richmond Rattlers baseball team kicked off its Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League schedule Tuesday at Lee County.
Facing off against the home Spinners, the Rattlers saw a slow start at the plate, coupled with some defensive miscues in the field, lead to a 12-1 mercy-rule loss in five innings.
Coached by Richmond Senior High School head coach Ricky Young, along with assistants Ty Bostick and Corey Wallace, the JV Rattlers sent rising sophomore pitcher Jude Howard on the mound.
Howard collected back-to-back strikeouts to start the game, but saw four errors on the left side of the infield lead to four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
After allowing just a lone RBI single in the inning, Howard was replaced by fellow rising sophomore pitcher Caleb Talton with two outs. A lefty, Talton threw three innings of relief, but allowed Lee County to score six more runs.
The best inning defensively for the Rattlers came in the bottom of the third when Talton sat the Spinners down in order. He recorded two ground outs, one back to the mound and the other to Howard at first, before a 6-3 putout by rising freshman Ethan Locklear ended the frame.
Leading 7-0 after three innings, Lee County added five runs in the home half of the fourth inning to put the game away. Rising freshman pitcher Brycen Goodwin made his high school debut and relieved Talton with two outs in the inning and recorded the final out on an infield pop fly to short.
On the hill for the Spinners was Nick Pope, who allowed just three hits over five innings. Talton recorded Richmond’s first hit, a single, in the top of the fourth inning but was left stranded after reaching with just one out.
To lead off the top of the fifth, rising freshman Thomas Lampley bounced a single up the third base line. Following two Pope punchouts, rising sophomore Matthew Walker belted an RBI triple to the right-center gap to plate Lampley for the team’s lone run.
The JV Rattlers will look to earn their first win of the summer campaign when they host Western Harnett High School on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Richmond Senior High School.
