MATTHEWS, N.C. — A one-run lead through the first four and a half innings wasn’t enough for the Richmond Senior baseball team on Thursday.
Closing its non-conference series on the road at Butler High School, the Raiders allowed seven runs in the final two innings, and fell to the Bulldogs 7-3.
Junior Colin Wheeler made his first appearance on the mound this spring, tossing five innings and allowing two earned runs on eight hits. He threw four innings of shutout baseball before surrendering two runs in the fifth.
“This game was a lot closer than the score indicates,” head coach Rob Ransom said. “We held the lead for most of the game, which was good. Colin pitched a fantastic game, especially for not having pitched at all this season.
“We just didn’t get hits when we needed to earlier in the game,” he added. “We left runners on base, and several in scoring position, when we had the chance to get momentum on our side.”
An issue during several games this season, the Raiders stranded six men on base.
Richmond took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when junior Matthew Walker recorded an RBI on a ground out. Fellow junior Alston Johnson, who led off the inning with the first of his game-high four hits, scored from third.
Johnson kept his hot streak going at the plate, going 4-for-4 at the dish and scoring the team’s only run. Over his last four games, Johnson is hitting at a .643 clip (9-for-14) with four runs scored and three RBIs.
Junior Cameron Way wouldn’t let Raiders go quietly, as he added the final two runs in the top of the seventh inning.
With Johnson on second, Way connected on the second offering from relief pitcher Matt Kenney for a two-run blast that sailed over the left field fence. It was Way’s team-leading third homer of the season.
“Alston had a great game with four hits and Cameron had three hits and a nice home run to boost his confidence a little,” Ransom said. “We played pretty good defense right up until the end.”
Wheeler was in a groove on the mound through the first four innings, stranding runners on the corners in the first and collecting three strikeouts in the second inning.
He faced just four batters in the third and left a runner on and recorded a fly out to right fielder Michael Pettitt to get out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth.
Following a one-out double in the bottom of the fifth, Kenney hit a two-run homer to left just out of the reach of Walker to put the Bulldogs up 2-1.
An inning later, freshman relief pitcher Camron Seagraves walked two Butler batters to start the frame. Way came in to pitch and allowed an RBI single to Canon Pierce to make it a 3-1 deficit.
An intentional walk to Kenney loaded the bases, and Peyton Hulighan cleared the bases with a grand slam to left.
“We put (Kenney) on because he was 3-for-3, and then the kid behind him (Hulighan) hit a bomb, so what do you do,” Ransom said of the situation.
The Raiders outhit the Bulldogs 11 to 10, with four coming from Johnson, including a leadoff double in the first. Way also impressed with a 3-for-3 outing with two RBIs and run scored.
Walker, Wheeler and seniors Hunter Hancock and Tony Gathings all recorded singles in the loss.
The Raiders (5-7, 4-6 Sandhills Athletic Conference) will gear up for their final regular-season series next week against rival Scotland High School (8-3, 7-2 SAC). Richmond will host the Fighting Scots on Tuesday, before traveling to Laurinburg on Friday.
“It’s a big week next week with a couple of rivalry games against Scotland, who is in second place,” Ransom closed.
“Hopefully we’ll be ready to play and it’ll be a little weird since our seniors will have graduated. But we’ll put our best efforts on the field.”
