SANFORD, N.C. — A late-game comeback was on the table for the Richmond Rattlers varsity baseball team Tuesday in its Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League opener.
Although Richmond would claw its way back into contention several times in the later innings, the Rattlers would fall to the Lee County Spinners 4-2.
Using a mixture of rising senior players who gained varsity experience as juniors this past spring, along with a handful of rising juniors and sophomores getting their first taste of varsity action, the Rattlers scored their two runs on five hits.
Head coach Ricky Young sent rising senior Luke Preslar to the mound to start, as the left-hander tossed four innings in the first game of the summer. Preslar allowed three runs during that span while also striking out four batters.
After the Rattlers went quietly in the top half of the first, the Spinners did the same when Preslar started a nifty 1-4-3 double play to get out of an early jam.
In the top of the second, Preslar led off with a single down the left field line. Rising junior Jaheim Harrington came in as a courtesy runner for the pitcher and scored the game’s first run two batters later when rising junior Michael Pettitt roped an RBI single to the same spot as Preslar’s hit.
Lee County would score two runs of its own in the bottom of the second, capitalizing on two errors by the Rattlers’ defense. A leadoff walk, followed by a single and a fielder’s choice, moved a runner to third base with two outs.
However, a pair of errors on the left side of the infield while trying to catch runners on the base paths led to both runs.
In their half of the fourth, the Spinners added another run thanks to a throwing error at shortstop trying to make a play at second base and take a 3-1 lead.
After trading quiet halves of the fourth inning, rising sophomore first baseman JD Lampley kick-started Richmond’s offense to lead off the top of the fifth. Lampley sent a one-hopper to the wall in right-center for a standup double.
Following a fielder’s choice by Pettitt which moved Lampley safely to third, rising senior catcher Blake Hall blooped an RBI single to shallow center field to score Richmond’s final run.
The Rattlers had an opportunity an inning later to tie the game or take the lead, loading the bases with just one out. Rising senior Harrison Chance started it by beating out an errant throw, and was followed by fellow rising Dallas Cowick doing the same thing.
Moving both runners up 90 feet was rising junior Hunter Hancock, who blooped a liner into no-man’s land in right field for a base knock. With the bases jacked, a strikeout by Alston Johnson and an infield fly out by Preslar in the next two at-bats ended the threat.
Replacing Preslar on the mound for the final three innings was rising sophomore Harley Honeycutt. He would give up a lone run in the bottom of the fifth.
The Rattlers will return to the diamond Wednesday and look for their first win, this time at home against Western Harnett High School. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.