ROCKINGHAM — A pitcher’s duel took place during Tuesday’s non-conference baseball game.
The Richmond Senior High School baseball team opened its two-game series with South Mecklenburg High School on the road.
Despite another complete game performance from senior James Eason, the Raiders lacked run support in a 3-1 loss.
Dropping their third straight game, the Raiders collected four hits and an earned run against the Sabres’ starting pitcher Cameron Bagwell, who also threw a complete game.
Eason tossed six innings and allowed nine hits. All three runs were earned and he walked two batters and struck out three on 91 pitches.
South Mecklenburg scored solo runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings. Richmond tried to rally in the seventh and scored its run.
A leadoff triple followed by a single in the bottom of the second made it 1-0. The Sabres doubled their lead with a bases-loaded walk to Bagwell with two outs in the fifth.
Using a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, South Mecklenburg increased its lead to 3-0.
Eason led off the top of the seventh with a single and moved to second base on a groundout. An errant pick-off attempt by Bagwell gave Eason time to move two bases and score.
Freshman Collin Hill also reached safely in the seventh with a base knock on a line drive to center, but the game ended with the tying run at the plate on a fielder’s choice.
Richmond’s other two hits came courtesy of junior Jason Walker and sophomore Evan Hodges, both singles.
“James had another good outing,” head coach Eric Brown stated. “There were only two hard-hit balls and he really gave us a chance.
“We battled tonight. (Bagwell) is going to UNCW and he’s pretty good, but I thought we held our own. We had base runners on pretty much every inning, we just couldn’t get the big hit to score runs.
Brown added that “tonight is nothing to hang our heads about and we just have to get ready for Friday.”
The Raiders (10-8) will close out their series with South Mecklenburg (15-3) Friday at home. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m. on teacher appreciation night.
JV Raiders come up short
A slow start yielded an 11-4 loss for the Richmond junior varsity baseball team at South Mecklenburg Tuesday.
The JV Raiders allowed two runs in the first inning and nine runs in the second inning. They scored all four runs in the top of the third before the game was called after five (time limit).
Jake Veach, Andrae Streeter and Jason Gainey recorded Richmond’s three hits, with Gainey’s coming as a double.
Colton Brown pitched one and one-third innings, followed by Preston Fann for one-third of an inning. Graham Odom tossed three innings of shutout baseball without giving up a hit.
Richmond’s runs scored via two passed balls and two wild pitches.
The JV Raiders (0-9-1) will host the JV Sabres Friday at 5 p.m.
