ROCKINGHAM — The Raider baseball team will hit the reset button Tuesday when it competes in the opening round of the 2019 North Carolina High School Athletic Association state playoffs.
The NCHSAA released its official playoff brackets Monday morning, starting with the preliminary matchups just shy of 10:30 a.m. Richmond received the No. 10 seed in the 4A West bracket, which stuck when the finalized brackets were published around noon.
The Raiders will host No. 23 R.J. Reynolds High School (6-11) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. A win against the Demons (Winston-Salem, N.C.) would advance the Raiders to the second round, along with a trip to No. 7 Hough High School.
That means Tuesday’s opener would serve as the last home game for the 12-player senior class.
Richmond went 18-8 overall during the regular season, and finished second in the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings with an 11-3 mark against conference opponents. Ten-year veteran head coach Ricky Young’s team also made it to the semis of the SAC tournament, before falling to second-place finisher Hoke County High School.
“I wouldn’t say we are content (with our seeding), but that’s the position we put ourselves in at the end of the year,” Young commented. “It’s a new season for everyone.
“Reynolds plays in one of, if not the toughest, conferences in the state in baseball,” he added. “They have a good pitcher going to play at Wofford College (Luke Stephens), so I’m sure we will see him on Tuesday.”
Dating back to 2005, according the NCHSAA’s website, this year’s appearance in the state playoffs marks the 15th consecutive year the Raiders have made the postseason. During that span, Richmond made it to the championship series in 2014, as well as the regional finals in 2013 and 2012.
Reynolds finished sixth out of six teams in the Central Piedmont Conference standings, but all other five schools also qualified for the state playoffs. They are: No. 5 Davie County (bye), No. 8 Ronald Reagan (bye), No. 14 West Forsyth, No. 17 Glenn and No. 18 East Forsyth high schools.
Richmond will look to get back to its old ways after its upset loss to No. 6 Hoke County in last week’s SAC tournament. An uncharacteristic seven errors overpowered the Raiders’ comeback attempt, as they fell 6-5.
Young hopes that his team can find the groove it had when it won 11 consecutive ball games from March 19 through April 11.
“We’ll probably go with Hunter (Parris) on the mound,” Young said of the senior right hander. “We need to get back to playing good defense so that we will have a chance to win the game. We also need to get on base so that we can play the type of game that we like to play.”
Young was referring to the small ball style of offense the Raiders have been successful at all year, using stolen bases and sacrifice bunts to move and score runners. Parris, who leads the club with six wins on the season, will make his 11th start when he toes the rubber against the Demons.
Parris leads the team in innings pitched (58.2), strikeouts (54) and has the lowest earned run average (1.07) among Richmond’s pitchers who have made at least eight appearances.
With Tuesday’s game serving as a win-or-go-home battle, the Raiders are looking to snap their current rollercoaster stretch that has seen them drop five of their last eight games since winning 11 in a row.
“Hopefully the guys realize the finality of the playoffs,” Young concluded. “If you don’t come focused and ready to play on every pitch, then the season can come to a quick end.”
Four other SAC teams qualified for the playoffs, with regular-season standings leader Pinecrest High School (19-5) topping Richmond’s seeding with a No. 6 mark and a first-round bye in the West.
Rival Scotland High School (14-9) snuck in as the No. 22 seed in the West, Jack Britt High School (11-6) earned the No. 17 seed in the East, while Purnell Swett High School (14-11) got the No. 19 seed in the East.
In last season’s playoffs, the No. 15 Raiders defeated No. 18 Davie County 8-2, before falling to No. 2 East Forsyth 5-2 in the second round.
