ROCKINGHAM — After battling back to tie Wednesday’s game in the fourth inning, the Richmond Renegade baseball team couldn’t get the job done.
Making up a game from earlier in the week, and playing for the first time in two weeks, the Renegades lost 14-4 to Southern Lee.
“Having two weeks off between games, there was a lot of rust in the box,” coach Ryan Mercer said. “Even though we came up short, there were some positives that we were able to take from today’s game.
“We showed some resilience to put together a couple of good at-bats in the middle innings. That allowed us to get it back 4-4. The guys used good base running and put the ball in play when we needed to. Now we just need to build off of that for (Thursday’s) game.”
Junior Landon Taylor started on the mound for Richmond, allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits in three innings. He also struck out six batters.
Southern Lee used a two-run homer to left field to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. In the home half, Richmond loaded the bases with no outs but failed to score.
A line drive RBI single in the second and an error in the third moved Southern Lee’s lead to 4-0.
Richmond scratched back with three runs in the bottom of the third. Junior Jabari Douglas (fielder’s choice) stole home as part of a double steal to get the Renegades on the board.
Taylor scored next and Evan Hodges hit a line drive RBI double to the gap to plate senior Davis Faw, who was a courtesy runner for senior Cain Hunsucker (hit-by-pitch).
A 1-2-3 top of the fourth from reliever Riley Brown (2 IP, five runs, one earned run, four hits) put Richmond back at the plate, leading to another run.
Brown (walk), junior Jeremiah Ritter (single) and Faw (walk) loaded the bases for junior Sam Thompson, who recorded an RBI with a bases-loaded free pass. Despite having the bags full and no outs, two strikeouts and a flyout ended the inning.
Southern Lee would tack on five runs in the fifth, another in the sixth and four more in the seventh.
Richmond’s final pitcher of the game was Douglas, who threw two innings. He allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits. Rounding out Richmond’s four-hit performance was a single by sophomore C.J. Jenkins.
The Renegades (1-2) will host Southern Lee again on Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Wednesday’s game soon.
