CAMERON, N.C. – While the storms in the Sandhills region dodged the Union Pines High School baseball field Thursday night, it was the Richmond Rattlers senior baseball team that rained down on the Vikings.
For the second time in three nights, the Rattlers reigned supreme over Union Pines in mercy-rule fashion, blowing past their competition 13-3 for the team’s eighth-straight victory in the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League. During Tuesday’s series opener, also on the road, Richmond tallied a summer-high 15 runs en route to a 15-1 win.
In the three-game set against the Vikings, the Rattlers outscored them 33-5. According to head coach Ricky Young, his team’s dominance is a direct result of it believing in the system, as well as executing the fundamentals that are necessary to win.
“I thought we threw the ball really well, but we made a couple of defensive miscues that allowed them to score some runs,” Young commented. “But throwing strikes is the thing we focus on and we again took advantage and got hits when we needed to.
“It’s good to be able to get up and down the lineup, and some of the guys who came in late swung the bat well,” he added of the offensive outpouring. “And I like to see them take advantage of their opportunities.”
Just like they did in Tuesday’s game, which they scored eight runs in the top of the first inning, the Rattlers got off to a hot start at the plate. Scoring four runs in the first, and adding five more in the second, Richmond collected 11 hits, four of which were for extra bases (three doubles and a triple).
Rising senior Garret Richardson led the team with three of those hits (two singles and a double), going 3-for-4 and also picking up two RBIs. Fellow rising senior Tyler Bass roped one single on the night, and matched Richardson’s two RBIs. Five other Rattlers had one RBI, including rising seniors Brett Young, Cameron Carraway, Nolan Allen and Hunter Parris, and rising junior Harrison Chance.
In the top of the first, Young was plunked by a pitch with one out, and was followed up by rising senior Jake Ransom drawing a walk. Young wasted no time stealing second and third, and scored when Carraway slapped his lone hit of the night for an RBI single, advancing Ransom to second. A Garet Weigman hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, as Bass scored Ransom in the next at-bat on a 4-6 fielder’s choice.
With runner’s on the corners, Bass took off for second, reaching safely, and allowed Carraway to score by drawing a throw from the catcher. Richardson finished the inning by giving Richmond a 4-0 lead by driving a ball to center field for an RBI single.
Rising junior left-hander Mitchell Paul got the call for his second start of the summer, after not pitching of late due to some shoulder discomfort. He went three innings in the win, gave up five hits, and recorded all nine of his outs via six pop flies, two ground outs and a pickoff caught stealing play.
Pitching the final two innings of the game was rising senior sidearm hurler Evan Hudson, who played stellar defense in left field the night before. He sat the Vikings down in order in the fourth inning, and didn’t allow a solo homer in the fifth to lead to any more damage. He racked up two strikeouts in just seven batters faced. Young noted that both pitchers “threw the ball well.”
Union Pines plated a run in the first, third and fifth innings, respectively. Paul allowed three straight hits to start the home half of the first, which resulted in an RBI single. In the third, with two outs, Paul gave up a double, which that batter later scored in the next at-bat on an RBI base knock. The homer Hudson allowed resulted in the game’s final run for either team.
Back in the dugout for the top of the second inning, Parris led off with a single, before advancing to second on a Hudson 5-3 fielder’s choice. Rising senior Alex Anderson moved Parris to third with his only hit of the night, and later allowed Parris to score when he stole second and prompted the Vikings’ catcher to make the same mistake from an inning before.
Young collected his only RBI on the night in the subsequent at-bat, blasting a double to the left-center gap. He would score two at-bats later with two outs when Carraway reached on a throwing error by the shortstop before moving to second on the errant throw. Weigman drew a walk, and Bass scored Carraway from second with a single to right field. Richardson again capped off the inning’s scoring with another RBI single.
“I didn’t really start off the summer too great,” Richardson admitted. “And I know they say not to blame it on the bat, but I switched up my bats and that seems to be helping out my hitting.
“It feels good to be a part of the winning streak, especially since I didn’t play a lot during the (high school) season,” he continued. “It’s good to help the team out and score runs.”
Richmond tallied a lone run in the third, after Young reached on a walk, stole second, and ran two bases home safely on a throwing error by the pitcher. Richardson hit a one-out double in the fourth inning, and scored in the next at-bat when Allen cracked an RBI single. Parris rang true with a hard ground ball single, scoring Allen from second, who had advanced on the throw to the plate to try and catch Richardson, giving the Rattlers a 12-2 lead.
As Coach Young had noted, some of his substitute players came up big in the final inning. Rising junior Will Chappell cranked a one-out triple to the right field corner, and scored Richmond’s final run a couple of pitches later when Chance brought him home on a double.
Young led all players with three runs scored, as Carraway wasn’t far behind with two runs scored. Eight other players scored one run in the victory.
The Rattlers are off until the middle of next week, as they look to keep their winning streak alive. They have a two-game set against Southern Lee High School (Sanford, N.C.), first with a home game on Wednesday, July 18, at 7 p.m. Then Richmond hits the road to wrap up the series in Sanford on Thursday, July 19, with a 7:30 p.m. start.
