ROCKINGHAM — A storied program built on tradition, the Richmond Raider baseball team added a new wrinkle this winter.
First-year head coach Eric Brown unveiled the Raider Baseball Preseason Classic, a best-of-three game intrasquad series to help close the program’s offseason development regimen.
“This is a tradition-rich program and we’re trying to keep that going while starting our own new traditions,” Brown explained. “This will be something we’ll count on every year. It just kind of hit us and we thought this would be a good week to do it.
“We wanted to reward the guys for coming out (this offseason) and break up the routine,” he added. “They’ve seemed to really enjoy it and that’s great to see.”
Wednesday’s matchup was the second of the three games, as the Green Raiders tied the series at one game apiece with a 12-3 victory. The Gold Raiders started the series with a 9-3 win Tuesday.
Each scrimmage has been five innings and to add to the scoring, the teams could earn additional runs a couple of ways.
Limiting innings to just 20 pitches, a run was tallied for every base runner and out remaining if and when the pitch count was reached.
Junior Jeremiah Ritter started on the mound for the Green Raiders, retiring the Gold Raiders in order to start the top of the first. Senior Davis Faw made a diving catch at second base to end the quick inning.
In the home half, senior James Eason reached on a single and later scored on a passed ball to make it 1-0 in favor of the Green Raiders. The starting pitcher for the Gold Raiders was sophomore Caden Nolan, who tossed three frames.
Ritter stranded runners on second and third to end the top of the second, which saw the Green Raiders add two runs to their lead in the bottom half.
A leadoff walk to freshman Collin Hill was followed by junior Conner Phifer reaching on an error in right field. Hill scored on the play and Phifer moved to third.
Junior Jabari Douglas blooped an RBI single into shallow left field a couple batters later to score Phifer to make it a 3-0 lead.
Ritter allowed two runs in the top of the third, his final inning of work. Senior Marquan Martin (hit-by-pitch), senior Cain Hunsucker (infield single) and Nolan (walk) loaded the bases.
Senior Isaac Hinshaw roped a two-RBI double down the third base line, plating Martin and freshman courtesy runner Graham Odom. Senior Zane Searcy caught a pop foul for the second out and Eason snagged a liner off the bat of junior Riley Brown to end the threat.
Just prior to Hinshaw’s two-bagger, Hill laid out in center field and made a diving catch for the first out.
The Green Raiders padded their lead in the bottom of the third, starting with Ritter and Searcy both reaching via a base on balls. Hill stepped in and lasered a two-RBI double into right field to score them.
With Nolan reaching the 20-pitch mark with a runner on base and just one out, the Green Raiders tacked on three more runs to take an 8-2 lead.
To start the top of the fourth, Eason took over on the bump. Junior Allen Taylor reached on a bunt single and made use of two throwing errors on a pickoff move and his speed to go first to home and score a run.
With freshman Kristopher Sellers and Odom on base (both by walks), Eason got out of a jam with a 3-6 double play. Phifer fielded a ground ball and stepped on first and fired to junior Jason Walker at second, who tagged out the runner.
Four more runs in the bottom of the fourth capped the victory for the Green Raiders. Junior Landon Taylor moved to the mound and loaded the bases on walks to freshmen Adan King, Tristan Chavis and Jakob Trexler.
Reaching the 20-pitch limit, the Green Raiders earned three runs for the three base runners and one more because there were just two outs.
Sophomore Evan Hodges closed the door on the win, pitching the top of the fifth. After loading the bases on a double by freshman Keith Cummings, a walk to Nolan and an error on a Hinshaw fly ball, the final out was recorded on a grounder to third.
“The biggest thing I will always preach most is pitching and defense,” Brown said. “Both of those things, with it being Feb. 6 and 7, I think have been right where we need them to be. We know that pitchers typically have an advantage over hitters early in the year.
“The overall energy from the guys coming out to start our season has been pretty good,” he closed.
The rubber match of the Raider Baseball Preseason Classic is set for Friday at 4 p.m.
The Raiders will hold tryouts for the upcoming 2024 season between Feb. 14-16. The Richmond Observer will continue its coverage of all of Richmond’s spring sports programs in the coming weeks.
Below are photos of Wednesday’s action of the Raider baseball program’s Preseason Classic taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.
