SHALLOTTE, N.C. – A plethora of hits coupled with six innings of dominant pitching from senior Tyler Bass allowed the Richmond Raider baseball team to take third place in the 20th annual Beach Diamond Invitational at West Brunswick High School.
Facing Sandhills Athletic Conference rival Scotland High School, the Raiders downed the Fighting Scots 10-2. An eight spot in the fourth inning opened the game up for Richmond, and snapped a two-game skid against Scotland.
A night after struggling to put hits together with runners in scoring position against host West Brunswick, the Raiders’ bats popped off for 12 hits, including doubles from senior Brett Young and junior Luke Preslar.
Bass, who improved to 5-0 on the spring, tossed six complete innings while allowing just one hit to Matt Sellers in the top of the fifth inning. He gave up two runs, one earned, and struck out six batters. Fellow senior Cameron Carraway came in and closed out the seventh inning.
Scotland (11 -9) used four pitchers on the afternoon, with starter Tyler Barfield giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits in 3.1 innings. Austin Norton threw just two-thirds of an inning, and gave up five earned runs on five hits and walked a batter.
“Getting third place is not the goal when we come down to this tournament,” head coach Ricky Young said. “But at least we swung the bats better. I would definitely trade that win for one of the two games last week.
“We played well and we didn’t want to lose to them three times this year,” he added. “It was a good day.”
The Raiders (17-7) took an early lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI single by senior Jake Ransom. It was the first of his two RBIs, an opposite field knock that scored Young (double).
Scotland answered back in the top of the second when Nick Callahan crossed the plate on a passed ball.
But from that point on, it was all Richmond. Courtesy runner Jahan Jones would score on a Scotland error to kickstart the eight-run inning. Junior Dallas Cowick hit an RBI single, one of Richmond’s seven hits in the inning, scoring senior Garret Richardson (error).
A passed ball would allow Evan Hudson to score, and Young floated a pop fly to shallow right field for an RBI single to make it 5-1.
Following the second out of the inning, the Raiders hit three straight singles. Two of them came from senior Nolan Allen and Carraway, and brought in two runs, respectively, to give the Raiders an eight-run lead.
The only other run Scotland would muster would be on a Sellers RBI single to center in the top of the fifth. Ransom added an insurance run with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Cowick.
Both teams would load the bases in their half of the sixth, but neither club found home.
Allen, Carraway and Ransom all had two RBIs, and Young and Cowick added one apiece. Cowick, Ransom, Weigman and Young all collected a game-high two hits. Weigman hosed out Sellers trying to steal second to end the fifth.
“Tyler threw the ball well today, and that’s something we’ve done all season,” Young noted. “I couldn’t ask for any more than what our pitchers have given us. Those guys have given us the chance to win in the majority of our ball games.
“Hopefully today will allow us to spring some more hits together,” he closed.
The Raiders will return home as the No. 2 seed in the SAC tournament next week. ROSports will update when dates and times are announced. Evan Hudson was named to the All-Tournament team.
