ROCKINGHAM –The Richmond Senior High School varsity baseball team knew that it had a challenge ahead of it when Terry Sanford’s Davidjohn “DJ” Herz took the mound on Saturday afternoon.
Herz, the left-handed junior, committed to play baseball for the University of North Carolina following his freshmen year in 2016, and has been tabbed as one of the top players in North Carolina this season.
Against Richmond, Herz pitched 5 complete innings allowing only three hits and striking out five batters. At the plate, he went 3-for-3 with a home run and 2 RBIs. However, his efforts were not enough as the Raiders took advantage of multiple Terry Sanford miscues and used their stellar base running to claim a 6-5 victory over the visiting Bulldogs.
The Raiders did not seem too intimidated by Herz early on. In the bottom of the first inning, Richmond’s lead-off batter Jonathan Lee watched four balls go by and took first base without even swinging the bat. Jahan Jones entered the game as a courtesy runner for Lee and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Drew Loving.
Raider catcher Gordon Pihl reached on an error and was replaced by courtesy runner Tyler Bass. Jake Ransom was then hit by a pitch and just like that, the Raiders had the bases loaded without recording a single hit.
Trey Watkins put the Raiders on the scoreboard when he brought home Jones with a sacrifice fly, but it was Garet Weigman that was finally able to hit one into play. Weigman took the first offering from Herz and belted it deep into center field for an RBI double, putting his Raiders ahead 2-0.
“On my first at bat, I got into the box ready to hit because I had noticed (Herz) started almost every batter off with a fastball,” Weigman explained about his decision to swing at the first pitch. “When I saw the first-pitch fastball, I put a good swing on it, and ended up hitting it off the base of the centerfield fence.”
Herz managed to avoid any additional damage by striking out Cameron Carraway to end the first inning, and then cut Richmond’s lead in half with an RBI-Single in the top of the second.
After giving up back-to-back singles to start the top of the third inning, Richmond’s starting pitcher Lee was replaced on the mound by Loving. Terry Sanford right fielder Andrew Jayne took a 2-0 pitch from Loving and sent it deep into left field for a two-RBI double. Bulldog shortstop Justin Ebert lined the very next pitch into left field to bring home Jayne and put Terry Sanford ahead 4-2.
Loving quickly regained his composure and retired 9 out of the next 11 Bulldog batters. Herz also kept the Raider batters at bay keeping the 4-2 Bulldog lead intact midway through the fifth inning.
Alex Anderson and Lee brought some excitement back to the stands and to the Raider dugout when they both singled to start off the bottom of the fifth. Loving’s well executed sacrifice bunt moved Anderson and Lee to third and second bases respectively.
Anderson scored and Lee advanced to third on a throwing error by the Bulldogs. Then, while teammate Jake Ransom was at the plate, Lee darted towards home in an attempt to steal a run. Herz’s pitch was caught by Bulldog catcher Jackson Deaver, but Deaver lost a handle on the ball allowing Lee to come home safely and knot the game up at four apiece.
Herz responded once again in the top of the sixth when he blasted a one-out solo shot over the left field fence to put his Bulldogs back ahead by one.
In the bottom of the sixth, Herz was replaced on the mound by Christian Hui. Weigman introduced himself to Hui the same way he did to Herz, by swinging at the first pitch. This time Weigman dropped one into shallow left field for a leadoff single, but Weigman was not done yet.
Before the first pitch to Raider senior Braxton Furstein, Hui attempted to pick off Weigman at first base. The throw to first was low and it rolled back to the fence allowing Weigman to get all the way to third putting the tying run just 90 feet away.
Furstein flew out to deep center allowing Weigman to tag up and run home tying the game up for the third time.
At that point, everyone in attendance experienced déjà vu. Like Weigman, Brett Young singled. Then after a pick-off attempt by Hui was thrown low and away from the first baseman, the ball once again rolled all the way back to the fence allowing Young to reach third base, just as Weigman did. Young was also able to tag up and run home following a sacrifice fly, this one hit by Anderson.
The back-to-back single-error-sacrifice fly combo put the Raiders ahead for good at 6-5. Loving and company were able to keep the Bulldogs off of the scoreboard in the top of the seventh to secure the Raider victory.
“It was a big win against a quality team,” said Richmond head coach Ricky Young. “We had the big first inning to get us going and then to be able to battle back from behind twice showed some resiliency. Garet Weigman had a big day at the plate and several guys executed bunts and sac flies when we needed them.”
Weigman went 2-for-2 with an RBI and he also scored a run. Pihl, Watkins, Furstein, and Anderson also each chipped in with an RBI in the win.
Young also credited Loving for his efforts on the mound.
“I was proud of Drew coming in and battling and giving us a chance to win,” Young said.
Weigman mirrored that acknowledgement. “I would like to give a shout out to Drew Loving for coming in and getting the job done,” Weigman remarked about his teammate. “It was a great team win over Terry Sanford!”
With the win, the Raiders improve to 2-0 on the season and will begin conference play Tuesday when they play host to the defending conference champion Rams of Purnell Swett High School.
