LAURINBURG — The Richmond Rattlers’ varsity baseball team put a nice touch to the end of its Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League campaign Thursday night.
On the road at Scotland, the Rattlers were looking to redeem themselves following a one-run loss the night before on their home field to the Sliders.
Behind a strong start from rising sophomore pitcher JD Lampley, coupled with an offensive outburst at the plate, Richmond routed Scotland 16-2 in five innings. The game was called early due to lightning strikes in the area.
With the victory, the Rattlers finished their summer season with a 7-5 record.
“It was a good summer,” head coach Ricky Young commented on the season. “We got all of our games in but one because of rain, which is a good thing. This season was productive because we got a lot of guys a lot of at-bats and worked through some situations as a team.
“There will be a lot of playing time available next season since we lost 12 seniors this past year,” he added. “I think we were able to see some good combinations and see a lot of guys in different situations. This gives us an idea going into fall workouts and the regular season where guys stand and what we can do.”
Lampley, one of five sophomores to play up with the varsity team this summer, tossed a complete game and allowed just two runs (one earned) on two hits. He also struck out two batters while allowing two walks.
At the plate for Richmond, Lampley was also the leading batter, tallying a game-high four RBIs in a 2-for-3 performance, including a double. Fellow sophomore Colin Wheeler added a double and three RBIs in the win, and teammates Dallas Cowick, Luke Preslar and Cameron Way all had two RBIs apiece.
The Sliders would take advantage of a first-inning error by Richmond to plate a run and take an early 1-0 lead. The Rattlers’ bats were quiet the first two innings, but exploded to score six runs in the third and fifth innings, respectively, while sandwiching four runs in the fourth.
With the bases loaded and on out in the top of the third, Scotland pitcher Lane Roberson hit Way and Lampley with a pitch to score two runs, and also walked rising senior Luke Preslar with the bases full of Rattlers. Wheeler broke the game open a couple pitches later when he roped a bases-clearing double to the right-center alley to put Richmond up 6-1.
A leadoff double in the home half of the third led to a fielder’s choice RBI for Scotland, proving to be its final run of the game.
Roberson was replaced with rising senior Matt Sellers to start the fourth, and he loaded the bases through the first four batters of the inning. Hunter Hancock and Blake Hall were hit by a pitch, and Harrison Chance drew a walk, ending Sellers’ night.
Cowick was the first batter to face pitcher Christian Cole, and he, too, was walked. Way followed suit in the next at-bat with another bases-loaded free pass. Leading 8-2, a Preslar sacrifice fly to left field, coupled with a Lampley RBI single to left field ended the inning’s scoring.
With one out in the top of the fifth, rising junior Tyler Mabe drew a bases-loaded walk, seeing rising sophomore Harley Honeycutt score (fielder’s choice). A passed ball at the plate allowed Tony Gathings (bunt single) to race home, and Cowick delivered with an RBI single to left field.
Way was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, this time with the bases loaded. Lampley ended Richmond’s scoring with a bang, as he belted a two-RBI double to the left-center fence, scoring Cowick and Way.
“We have to continue to get better defensively,” Young said of the season in review. “The games we lost were because we didn’t play good defense. Later in the summer we got better — and we can continue to build on that.
“Throwing strikes is the key,” he closed. “That’s the formula to win — throw strikes, don’t walk people and don’t make errors.”
