ROCKINGHAM — Richmond Senior High School head baseball coach Ricky Young just wrapped up his 20th season as a high school baseball coach, and his 10th with the Raiders. But the 2019 team goes down as one of the “most enjoyable” he’s had the pleasure of coaching in his two-decade long career.
The most unique quality of the Raider baseball team this season was its 12 senior players, the “biggest senior class” Young has ever had. One of those seniors was his son, Brett Young, and the close of the season brought an end to era for Young.
“This team was a really special group,” Young said of his 20-player team. “I enjoyed coming to the field every day and practicing with all of the guys. The chemistry and love they have for each other made it fun in every way.
“The seniors are unique because I’ve watched them grow up playing baseball with Brett,” he added. “My house has been full of these guys for a long time and a lot of them played middle school and travel ball together. They’re going to be missed.”
Entering the season, the Raiders had their eyes set on several goals, including winning the Sandhills Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships, as well as making a deep run in the 4A state playoffs.
Richmond went 19-9 overall, and posted an 11-3 mark against SAC opponents during the regular season. That mark was good enough for second place behind Pinecrest High School, which edged the Raiders by one game to win its second-straight title.
In the SAC tournament, Richmond made it to the final four. Young and company also received a No. 10 seed in the NCHSAA playoffs, and won its opening round game against R.J. Reynolds High School in 12 innings. Unfortunately, the No. 7 Hough High School Huskies ended the Raiders’ run in the second round.
“We were coming back with a lot of experience, a lot of excitement and big goals and expectations,” Young said of the team’s pre-season outlook. “I really thought swinging the bat would be our strength and pitching would need to develop, but it was the opposite.
“Hitting is such a mental aspect of the game, and pressure can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do,” he continued. “We hit the ball well over the summer, and that’s a time where it’s easy to relax. Spring ball has higher expectations and we had times we hit well and other times we weren’t as consistent.”
A trio of seniors fulfilled the primary pitching roles for the Raiders this season, seeing Hunter Parris acting as the team’s No. 1 starter. Behind him were No. 2 Cameron Carraway and No. 3 Tyler Bass, and each pitcher earned at least five wins on the season.
Parris, who was named the SAC’s “Pitcher of the Year,” won an SAC-best six starts. Bass and Carraway each notched five wins, while Parris led the club in innings pitched (66), strikeouts (60) and earned run average (1.17).
Also seeing time on the mound was senior sidearm hurler Evan Hudson and junior lefty Luke Preslar, as the duo combined for three more wins.
“All the pitchers bought into the philosophy of attacking the strike zone,” Young commented. “I told them we could have a chance in every game if they threw strikes.
“They knew we didn’t have the most velocity in the conference,” he added. “But they proved that a well-located pitch is just as effective as a high-velocity pitch. No matter who was pitching, he always gave us a chance to win – they’re all competitors.”
The Raiders enjoyed a season-high 11-game winning streak that started against Jack Britt High School on March 19, which was one game short of tying 2018’s stretch of 12 straight wins. The span of wins saw sweeps over SAC opponents Jack Britt, Hoke County, Lumberton and Seventy-First high schools.
Richmond also picked up non-conference wins over Northwest Guilford and Southeast Guilford high schools, as well as a 3-2 thriller at Terry Sanford High School, which made it to the fourth round of the 3A state playoffs.
“We started playing like we expected to play during the winning streak,” Young commented. “We had to adjust the lineup early on, and we hit our stride with the first win over Purnell Swett, which broke us loose.
“Our goals every year are to win 20 games, win the conference and the conference tournament and make a run in the playoffs,” he added. “We came up short, but I told them we may not have reached those goals, but there were a lot of other things we learned.”
Young noted that his players learned “how to compete and lean on each other” and that they “never quit.” Another big takeaway was how his players “learned life lessons” on and off the field.
Four seniors signed commitment letters to play college baseball. They were Bass (Brunswick Community College), Carraway (Wingate University), Alex Anderson (Johns Hopkins University) and Garet Weigman (Guilford College).
Offensively, the Raiders hit .275 as a team in 29 games, with Carraway leading the team with a .371 batting average. Fellow senior Jake Ransom was second in line with a .333 average, and the pair of teammates each hit a team-high two home runs.
Richmond scored an average a 5.14 runs per game, reaching that mark in 11 games. The Raiders scored 14 runs in a game twice (against Purnell Swett and Lumberton), and saw their season-best 17 runs scored in a shutout win over Seventy-First.
Carraway and Ransom would also be the top two Raider hitters and run producers, knocking 26 and 24 hits, respectively. In the RBI column, Carraway’s 23 were a team best, while Ransom was right behind him with 22 RBI. Eight of Ransom’s RBIs came off his two grand slams, which came in the span of a week over Purnell Swett and Pinecrest.
Bass and Brett Young each collected 23 hits, while Young’s 13 RBIs were third on the team. His, and perhaps the team’s, biggest moment came as a 12th inning walk-off against Reynolds.
The Raiders matched Pinecrest with six overall selections to the All-SAC team, which was announced last week. The 19 total wins made it the most in a single season for Richmond since winning 20 games in 2016.
“This season was really enjoyable,” Ricky Young closed. “Even though we didn’t meet all of our goals, it was still a very fun year.”
With the spring season in the books, Young and the Raiders will prepare for the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League. The summer team is used as a development league for rising players. ROSports will cover the Richmond Rattlers in the coming months.
