ROCKINGHAM — Through the first five games of the Richmond Rattlers’ varsity baseball team’s Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League schedule, head coach Ricky Young’s team has either won big or seen things fall apart late.
The Rattlers welcomed in Union Pines on Wednesday to wrap up the season series a night after mercy-ruling the visiting team in five innings. But it would be Union Pines that was on the winning end of Wednesday’s contest, pulling out a 13-7 victory.
In Tuesday’s win, Richmond collected 11 hits to score 11 runs, and followed up with seven hits for seven runs on Wednesday. Rising sophomore J.D. Lampley made his second start of the summer on the mound and allowed just one run and three hits through three innings of work.
Both teams went scoreless through the first two innings, but a single and a hit-by-pitch coupled with a Richmond error in the top of the third saw the visiting team take a 1-0 lead.
Richmond responded in its home half of the inning, scoring two runs to take an early 2-1 lead. Rising senior Austin Talton led off with a single and rising senior Dallas Cowick drew a walk to put two runners on. Rising sophomore Cameron Way brought the pair home with a two-RBI double to right field.
That would be the only lead Richmond held all night.
Cowick would take over the mound for Richmond in the fourth inning and pitch two frames. Union Pines would break the game open in the fourth, scoring six runs on four hits and two walks.
Richmond answered back with a solo run it the bottom half, seeing rising sophomore Colin Wheeler (double) reach home on an Alston Johnson RBI single.
Union Pines would add two more runs off Cowick in the fifth inning, and tally its final four runs over the last two innings against rising senior pitcher Noah Altman.
A three-run fifth inning by the Rattlers gave Richmond some hope late, but would be too little, too late to complete the comeback. Scoring runs in the inning were Talton, rising senior catcher Blake Hall and Cowick. Rising sophomore Harley Honeycutt scored Richmond’s final run of the night in the bottom of the seventh.
Now 2-3 on the summer, the Rattlers will get back in action Thursday when they travel to Southern Lee High School. First pitch against the Cavaliers is set for 7 p.m. in Sanford, N.C.
