ROCKINGHAM – Unlike the first round of the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, which saw the Richmond Senior High School varsity baseball team get knocked out early, the Raiders did the knocking Tuesday night, sending the War Eagles of Davie County High School home with an 8-2 loss.
The green and gold did what they do best, and what head coach Ricky Young has been preaching all season long – putting pressure on opposing defenses, great pitching and timely hitting.
The War Eagles (10-12) would get on the board first in the top of the second inning to go up 1-0, but that would be the last time they would own the lead.
Richmond came right back in the bottom of the second and went up 2-1 after starting pitcher Trey Watkins doubled, first baseman Cam Carraway walked and Tyler Bass bunted a single and beat the throw with a head-first slide to load the bases. Second baseman Justin Ingram would then single, scoring courtesy runner Cy Jones (running for Watkins) and Carraway.
The Raiders continued to add to their lead, tacking on a run in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings off of War Eagles starting pitcher and East Carolina University commit Carson Whisenhunt. A few timely errors by Davie County also helped Richmond cross the plate Tuesday.
In the bottom frame of the sixth, Richmond would put the game out of reach starting with a walk to Carraway, Bass getting hit by a pitch and a sac bunt from Ingram that moved the other two over. An error by Davie County allowed Carraway to score, and shortstop Drew Loving beat out an infield single to score Bass.
Catcher Gordon Pihl would later single, scoring Alex Anderson and Loving to put Richmond up 8-1. The War Eagles would put up another run in the top of the seventh inning, but it was too little, too late by that point.
Offensively, the Raiders were able to get to Whisenhunt early and often, scoring seven of the eights runs off of him, while collecting eight total hits on the night.
Ace pitcher Watkins produced another stellar night on the mound, pitching a complete game while striking out nine to go along with only five hits and two walks on 104 pitches. Richmond’s other ace, Jonathan Lee, will return to action in the second round after serving his two-game suspension for getting ejected in the regular season finale against Scotland High School.
“We played the style we like to play tonight,” Young said after the game, alluding to the small ball his team used effectively in the later innings. “We created a lot of havoc on the bases. We were able to create some mistakes by them by putting pressure on them. That’s the way we like to play.”
He went on to say that Watkins being able to limit the opponent’s base runners made the game a little easier, too.
Richmond will now move on to play No. 2 seed East Forsyth in the second round of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs, another team from the Central Piedmont Conference. Not only did the Eagles win the regular season CPC title by going 9-1, they also won the conference tournament last week against West Forsyth High School by a score of 6-5. The time and date for that game has yet to be determined as of press time.
“They’re a No. 2 seed overall, they’re 20-5, so obviously they’re a good team,” Young said about the next matchup. “We have to continue doing what we did tonight.”
