RAEFORD — The Richmond Senior High School baseball team had plenty of opportunities to score on the road Friday night, but saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.
Playing the final game of a two-game Sandhills Athletic Conference set against Hoke County High School, the Raiders fell to the Bucks 3-1.
Richmond left nine runners on base, including eight in scoring position, and committed four errors in the field.
“We didn’t get hits when we had opportunities with runners in scoring position,” head coach Rob Ransom said. “We had a big base running error early in the game and we continue to do inexperienced things in games when we shouldn’t be at this point (of the season).
“Until we clean that up, we’re not going to get better,” he added. “Against the pitching tonight, we had to get more hits, it’s that simple. We didn’t put pressure on their defense and we played poor baseball tonight.”
The Raiders scored their lone run in the top of the second inning when freshman Camron Seagraves singled to right field off starting pitcher Dorian Tucker. That scored senior Hunter Hancock, who reached on an error.
Tucker gave the Bucks (1-7, 1-5 SAC) a 2-0 lead with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first. An inning later, an error by Richmond allowed Hoke County to score its final run of the game.
Junior pitcher Cameron Way threw five innings for the Raiders, and gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits. He also added three strikeouts.
Seagraves inherited a runner at first in the top of the sixth, but struck out all three batters he faced in his one inning of work. Ransom said both pitchers “pitched good enough” for the Raiders to get the win.
At the plate, the Raiders collected six hits, all singles, including two each from Seagraves and junior Matthew Walker. Senior Tony Gathings and sophomore Ethan Clayton accounted for the other two.
Ransom said the Raiders faced a lot of offspeed pitches from Tucker, who went 5.1 innings and gave up four of the hits, but didn’t make the necessary changes to drive runners in.
“We didn’t make adjustments well enough even though we moved up in the box,” Ransom said. “(Tucker) gutted it out and pitched a great game for them. We were out on our front foot tonight with a lot of weak ground balls and pop ups.”
Despite making four errors, Richmond had several key defensive plays to keep the game close. Junior catcher Colin Wheeler caught Drew Atkinson trying to swipe second to end the second inning.
An inning later, Gathings started a relay to senior Michael Pettitt, who threw a strike to Wheeler, who applied the tag to Ian Carter to keep a run off the board and end the frame.
In the bottom of the fourth, Pettitt showed off his arm again, throwing a dart to Wheeler at the plate. This time the duo teamed up to throw out Takoda Hardin.
Trying to rally in the top of the seventh against relief pitcher Mike Pimpinella, Way drew a walk and Walker singled to put runners on the corners. But a ground ball out ended the game.
Richmond (3-5 SAC) will look to return to the win column when it travels to Lumberton High School next Thursday. The first game of a two-game series with the Pirates on consecutive nights will begin at 7 p.m.
“We’ve got three days of practice before our next game so we’ll come back Monday and try to get better,” Ransom closed.
