ROCKINGHAM — Opening its two-game series with Pinecrest High School, the Richmond Raider baseball team couldn’t convert on early chances to score Tuesday.
Suffering back-to-back Sandhills Athletic Conference losses, the Raiders came up short 5-0 to the Patriots.
Pinecrest scored all of its runs through the first four innings, registering solo runs three times and adding a pair of runs in the third.
Starting for the second time this season, senior pitcher James Eason recorded his first loss. He threw three innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and had one strikeout.
Pitching in relief for Richmond, junior Jason Walker went the final four frames. He surrendered one earned run on four hits and sat down three Patriots on Ks.
Opposite of Eason was Bryant Kimbrell for the Patriots, who tossed five innings and allowed just one hit, two walks and struck out 11 batters.
The Raiders stranded seven runners on base, including four in scoring position. Richmond stranded a runner at third base in the first two innings, and a runner on second in the third and seventh frames.
Junior Riley Brown had both of the Raiders’ hits. He knocked a base hit back up the middle in the bottom of the second and later roped a double on the fly to the warning track in center to start the seventh.
Richmond’s other base runners were sophomore Caden Nolan and junior Jeremiah Ritter (base-on-balls), sophomore Evan Hodges (two errors) and freshman Collin Hill (error).
Junior Riley Brown (4) celebrates after his double in the seventh inning. (Kyle Pillar, sports editor)
“I’m proud of the guys for the way they fought,” head coach Eric Brown said. “I don’t do moral victories, that’s not us or our program. But the way they hung in there from the fourth (inning) on when the game could have gotten away from us, and what Jason did on the mound by putting up zeroes, I’m proud of that.
“We faced one of the better arms in the conference and he did his job, which is what your ace is supposed to do. We shouldn’t have struck out as many times as we did and we’ll work on that.
“There was a lot of growth from Caden and Riley making some big plays on defense that they’ve struggled with this year,” he continued. “They gained some confidence. We’re building and we know that.”
The Patriots used two-out singles from Grayson Hudgins and Connor Tepatti in the first and second innings, respectively, to take a 2-0 lead.
In the third, two more RBI singles from Addison Roth and Mitch Baek doubled Richmond’s deficit to 4-0.
Pinecrest’s final run came in the top of the fourth courtesy of an infield single by Roth to third base.
After allowing a run in the fourth, Walker faced just four batters each in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, stranding three runners.
“We have to start the game better, and that’s on us as coaches,” Brown said of Friday’s series finale at Pinecrest. “We have to get them ready to play and when the first pitch is thrown, we have to be locked in and can’t wait.
“We’ve kind of done that all year,” he closed. “We have to come out early, put up some zeroes, play defense and scrap. It’s going to be a good, tough environment for baseball, and the way we finished tonight, I feel good about going in there.”
The Raiders (3-2, 1-2 SAC) will travel to Pinecrest (5-0, 1-0 SAC) for the final game of the two-game regular-season series Friday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
JV Raiders fall on the road
The Richmond junior varsity baseball team lost its third straight game to start the season Tuesday at Pinecrest.
Playing five innings, the JV Raiders were defeated 21-3 by the JV Patriots.
Freshman Tristan Chavis drove in two RBI on a double and fellow freshman Steve James plated a run. Richmond tallied five hits, including two from sophomore Jake Veach.
The other hits, both singles, were collected by freshmen Drew Gause and Andrae Streeter.
The JV Raiders (0-3, 0-3 SAC) will host the JV Patriots Friday at 5 p.m.
