WILMINGTON — In the second half of the Raider baseball team’s trip to the Port City on Saturday, the outcome against Eugene Ashley High School was the same as its first game at Emsley A. Laney High School.
But head coach Ricky Young saw some improvements from the first game — more specifically in the run column.
After beginning their trip with a 2-0 loss to Laney, the Raiders saw a three-run lead slip away late to fall to the Ashley Screaming Eagles 7-6. A seventh-inning rally, which plated two runs, came up just short.
Richmond managed to only collect four hits in each game, but its six runs against Ashley were a season-high. Leading the Raiders (1-2) at the plate was senior right fielder Garret Richardson, who went 2-for-3, as he collected his first two hits and RBIs of the spring.
Senior Evan Hudson got the nod on the hill and became Richmond’s third different starter through the first three games of the season. He tossed 3.1 innings, gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits, earned one strikeout and walked three batters.
A couple of hiccups defensively, which Young noted as “uncharacteristic” for his team, led to extended innings and late-game runs for the Screaming Eagles (3-0).
“Evan threw the ball well today, but I think if we make some plays defensively behind him, he comes out with the lead,” Young said. “We didn’t execute some rundowns and that put us in a bad position.”
Ashley took a 1-0 first inning lead thanks to a Tyler McNeill RBI double which scored teammate Rocco Farmintino, but the Raiders responded in the second with a run of their own. Senior Garet Weigman led off the inning by reaching first on a throwing error by third baseman Michael Brannin, and made his way to second as the ball rolled down the right field line.
Junior Austin Talton came in as a courtesy runner for Weigman, and stole third on the second pitch to Richardson. Just 90 feet away, Talton would score the tying run when Richardson skied a sacrifice fly to center field.
Hudson found himself in a two-out, bases loaded jam in the next half inning, but he worked out of the tight spot by turning and picking off RJ Hunt at second base. For the second time in two games, senior Tyler Bass applied the tag on the pick-off move.
Bass would lead off the top of the third inning with a base on balls, and scored three batters later on a fielder’s choice. Cameron Carraway bounced a ball to Drew Tyndall at second base, who opted to try for the double play, getting Jake Ransom out at second.
Carraway reached safely and Bass raced home to give Richmond an early 2-1 lead.
Similar to the bottom of the second inning, Hudson pitched his way out of another bases-loaded situation in the home half of the third, this time starting with no outs. A single and back-to-back walks put three on for the Eagles, but a Barrett Swails infield fly to Brett Young at second base marked the first out.
In the next at-bat, Trent Eason lined a shot to Jahan Jones in centerfield, who was playing for injured starter Alex Anderson. Jones hauled in the catch on the run and sent the ball back to Bass at second to double up Ashton Evans who didn’t tag.
The Raiders would add two more runs to their lead in the top of the fourth innings, going up 4-1. Richardson started the inning with a double to the right-center gap, and was followed by Hunter Parris reaching safely on another Ashley error.
That’s when Young resulted to small ball, having his next two batters lay down successful sacrifice bunts. Senior Nolan Allen placed a bunt just outside of the batter’s box to advance Richardson and Parris to third and second, respectively, and the pair would advance again when Jones did the same.
Bass would record his first RBI of the season, scoring Parris, when he blooped a single into shallow right field with two outs.
The wheels would fall off for the Raiders in the bottom of the third when the Eagles took advantage of some defensive miscues to take a 5-4 lead. Brannin and Branton Jernigan would score on a Farmintino two-RBI single, and Farmintino and Tyndall would score before Hudson was replaced by Bass on the mound with one out.
Ashley would add two more runs to take a 7-4 lead heading into the final inning. In the fifth, Farmintino recorded his game-leading third RBI with a single to right field, scoring Eason. In the sixth, Evans would sky one to left field and round the bases on an error that saw the ball roll to the wall.
Down to their final three outs, the Raiders would make things interesting by scoring two runs in the top of the seventh. With one out, Weigman drew a walk and raced to second on a passed ball. Richardson brought him home with his second double of the game down the left field line.
Parris would score the final run of the game when he reached on an error at third base, allowing Richardson to cross the plate. With Parris on second as the tying run, a strikeout and a ground out to first ended the game.
“We put some better things together in the second game,” Young said. “We made some progress, but had some defensive lapses that are uncharacteristic for us. We’ll get better at that.
“I always like to play tough teams, and I hate to lose,” he concluded. “But this is part of the process and I think these two games will help us in the long run.”
The Raiders will open Sandhills Athletic Conference play on Tuesday at Purnell Swett High School (1-1). First pitch is set for 7 p.m. in Pembroke.
