Home Local Sports Strong starting pitching and four-run 5th inning help Rattlers past Southern Lee

Strong starting pitching and four-run 5th inning help Rattlers past Southern Lee

The Rattlers use a 4-run 5th inning to earn a win over Southern Lee Thursday.
Kyle Pillar — The Richmond Observer.

ROCKINGHAM — A slow start by the Richmond Rattlers’ varsity baseball team’s offense was saved Thursday thanks to some strong starting pitching and its bats coming alive in the late going.

Hosting Southern Lee High School in the first of a two-game series, a four-run fifth inning proved to be the difference for head coach Ricky Young’s team. The Rattlers would squeeze past the Cavaliers by a final score of 5-2.

A night after dropping a game to Union Pines High School, the Rattlers rebounded thanks to the right arm of rising sophomore pitcher Harley Honeycutt. He pitched five innings to pick up the win, allowing just two runs on five hits, while striking out three batters.

Rising junior Michael Pettitt came in to close the game out, pitching two scoreless innings and facing just eight batters.

A run by the Cavaliers gave Southern Lee a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and they would add their final run of the night on an error in the fifth.

The Rattlers had some early chances to score, but stranded runners on base in each of the second through fourth innings, twice leaving a runner on third base. But rising junior Hunter Hancock would change that in the fifth when he led off with a double with his team trailing 2-0.

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A passed ball moved Hancock to third and rising senior Austin Talton drew a walk to put another runner on. Rising senior Blake Hall delivered Richmond’s first run of the night when he singled home Hancock.

Following Hall’s single, rising junior Jaheim Harrington laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Talton to tie the game at 2-2. To cap the four-run inning, RBI singles by rising sophomore Alston Johnson and rising senior Luke Preslar brought home Hall and rising sophomore Cameron Way (single).

Looking to extend their lead late, the Rattlers added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Rising sophomore Colin Wheeler kept his bat hot and recorded his fifth hit in three games to leadoff the frame. 

Playing some more small ball, rising senior Will Chappell moved Wheeler into scoring position with a sac bunt. A passed ball allowed Wheeler to trot to third before a Hall RBI single, hist second of the game, two at-bats later brought in the team’s final run.

The win brought Richmond’s record back to the .500 mark at 3-3 on the summer. The Rattlers will continue Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League play on Tuesday when they travel to Southern Lee for the series finale before going on a weeklong hiatus for the Fourth of July.



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.