ROCKINGHAM – In Tuesday night’s first round playoff game against Davie County High School, the Richmond Senior High School varsity baseball team came out hot at the plate and remained that way consistently throughout the game.
The Raiders put at least one runner on base in every inning and scored seven runs on five hits against East Carolina University signee Carson Whisenhunt, who was pulled from the game after 5.1 innings.
Richmond’s 8-2 win marks the second most runs given up by Davie County this season. They surrendered 12 to Lake Norman High School way back in the first week of March. The Raiders will need to continue to swing the bat well on Friday when they take on the Eagles of East Forsyth High School in the second round.
Like Davie County, East Forsyth is a member of a very tough Central Piedmont Conference. The CPC also includes the Reagan High School Raiders, who joined Richmond in the Seahawk Invitational in Hilton Head, S.C., and West Forsyth High School, who has already won 21 games this season. Both teams are still in the postseason after round one wins.
East Forsyth is currently 20-5 on the season and won the CPC regular season and tournament titles. Much like Richmond, the Eagles started the season slow and picked up steam during the Easter break. They were only 3-4 after their first seven games, and then won four straight before dropping a 3-1 decision to the Glenn High School Bobcats just before spring break. That loss seemed to be the wakeup call that the Eagles needed.
Just two day priors to their home loss to Glenn (9-15), they easily declawed the Bobcats 10-0 in five innings. In the 3-1 loss to Glenn, the Eagles were limited to just one run on four hits. On top of that, all three of the Bobcats’ runs were courtesy of three errors on three consecutive plays in the top of the second inning. After that loss, East Forsyth traveled to Shallotte, N.C., to compete in the Beach Diamond Invitational at West Brunswick High School. They easily swept the competition in the tournament, which included Pinecrest High School, and have not lost a game since.
Throughout their current 13-game winning streak, East Forsyth has thrown nine different pitchers on the mound. They use an average of three hurlers per game, with only senior Luke Kimrey and junior Spencer Calloway each recording one complete game performance in that time.
Another pitcher seeing significant time on the mound is senior Grant Eidschun. Eidschun has only given up five runs in his last 18 innings. As a whole, the entire pitching staff is averaging less than one strikeout per inning, which speaks volumes about how clean their fielding and throwing must be in order to hold so many opponents to such low scores.
If Friday’s game comes down to errors, the game may shift into East Forsyth’s favor. The Eagles do not exactly light up the scoreboard, but they play well defensively and can keep the score low. East Forsyth is only allowing just over one run per game over the course of the last 13 games.
It could not be a better time for Raiders’ senior Jonathan Lee to return from his two-game suspension, but it will most likely be the Raider bats that will be the deciding factor. If the Raiders stay hot at the plate, they will come back to Rockingham victorious. A high-scoring game definitely works in Richmond’s favor. A low-scoring game will most likely send the Eagles to round three.
