LAURINBURG — A valiant effort early in Thursday’s season finale didn’t hold up for the Richmond Renegade baseball team.
A four-run first inning from the Renegades saw the offense go cold the rest of the way, resulting in a 12-4 loss to Scotland.
Dropping its third game in a row to end the summer, Richmond allowed a dozen unanswered runs over the next six innings.
“There were some fielding mistakes we made in crucial spots tonight,” coach Corey Wallace said. “They resulted in extending a couple of big innings for Scotland.”
After taking a 4-0 lead, Richmond allowed a run in the first, four runs in both the second and fifth frames, another run in the fourth and two runs in the sixth.
For the second straight game, the Renegades were short-staffed and Sam Thompson stepped up to start on the mound. He went five innings and gave up 10 runs (five earned) on 11 hits with five strikeouts.
Allen Taylor threw the sixth inning in relief, allowing two runs (one earned) on a hit with two Ks.
Davis Faw led off the top of the first with a walk and moved to third when Thompson roped a double to right field in the next at-bat. A passed ball scored Faw to make it 1-0.
Zane Searcy dug in next and grounded a ball to third base, allowing Thompson time to score on the RBI groundout.
With one on and one out, Jason Gainey reached on an error on a grounder back up the middle, scoring Searcy. A throwing error on the relay allowed Gainey to race home and slide under the tag to make it 4-0.
Richmond stranded Jake Veach (walk) in the second, Thompson (triple) in the third, Garret Mabe (walk) and Taylor (walk) in the fourth and Veach (single) again in the fifth.
The Renegades went down in order in the sixth and a two-out single by Preston Fann in the seventh saw him left on base.
Thompson’s two extra-base hits led the team, while singles by Fann and Veach accounted for the team’s four hits. Searcy recorded Richmond’s lone RBI.
“We have built a lot of team chemistry over the summer,” Wallace recalled of the summer. “And we as the coaches are excited to work on and implement some things in the fall to develop the physical and mental aspects of the game.”
The Renegades finished the summer campaign with a 5-6 overall record.
