LUMBERTON — The first inning of Thursday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup between Richmond and Lumberton saw all of the game’s runs scored.
Despite a strong six-inning effort from junior starting pitcher Will Dawkins, and a better overall defensive performance, the Raiders fell to the Pirates 3-2.
Dawkins allowed three runs (all unearned) on just two hits, while striking out five Lumberton batters.
After the first inning, Dawkins and Lumberton’s Garret Smith settled into a pitcher’s duel. Smith tossed a complete game, surrendering two earned runs on six hits, while striking out six Raiders.
“Will pitched really good after the first inning, but again, we need to be ready to score more runs,” head coach Rob Ransom said. “We came out and scored two early and gave up three, and that was the ball game.
“It was a pitcher’s duel, but we had runners in scoring position that we couldn’t push across,” he continued. “Our defense was much better tonight, and that has a lot to do with our pitching. Will got ahead and threw strikes and made it easier on the defense.”
Richmond took a 2-0 lead after the opening half frame. Junior Alston Johnson led off with a single to right and stole second.
Moving him to third on a grounder was junior Cameron Way, and in the next at-bat, junior Matthew Walker beat out an infield single up the middle to score Johnson.
With two outs and Walker on second after swiping the bag, senior Hunter Hancock delivered with a line drive single to center field. Walker rounded third and crossed home safely on Hancock’s RBI single.
In the bottom of the first with the bases loaded, a passed ball and an error allowed all three Lumberton base runners to score and take a 3-2 advantage.
Dawkins went to work in the top of the second, sitting the Pirates down in order, starting a stretch where he retired 12 of the next 13 batters in a row.
Senior Michael Pettitt roped a leadoff single to start the top of the fourth and made it to third base, but was left stranded.
An inning later, sophomore Ethan Clayton led off with a single, but a base running error by a courtesy runner between second and third ended Richmond’s threat.
Leading off the top of the seventh and down to their final three outs, junior catcher Colin Wheeler singled to the left side of the infield. He stole second and was moved up 90 feet when freshman Camron Seagraves laid down a sacrifice bunt.
Clayton dug in during the next at-bat and lifted a fly ball to left field for the second out. Racing home to try and beat the throw was Wheeler, who was called out sliding head first on a close play at the plate to end the game.
“We had a fly ball with medium depth, and we were going to take our chances,” Ransom explained. “It was a bang-bang play at the plate that could have gone either way.
“We didn’t want to wait to see if anything else happened, that was our best chance to score and tie the game.”
Six different Raiders collected a hit — all singles — in the loss. They were Johnson, Walker, Pettitt, Hancock, Wheeler and Clayton. Hancock and Walker were responsible for one RBI each.
“You saw it tonight, the kids are playing hard,” Ransom closed. “We are still trying to execute and get better. We’ve lost three one-run games and one two-run games, and we’ll just continue to try and get wins.”
The Raiders (3-6 SAC) have a quick turnaround and will host Lumberton (6-2, 5-2 SAC) on Friday for the series finale. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
