ROCKINGHAM – With the Richmond Senior High School varsity volleyball team locking up the No. 3 spot in our Top Sports Story countdown, the Raiders varsity baseball team, and more specifically now-graduated senior pitcher Jonathan Lee, rolls into our No. 2 moment from this past school year.
On Thursday, March 29, Lee threw the Raiders’ first recorded seven-inning perfect game against Hoke County High School. The only other Raider pitcher, according to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s official record book, to throw a perfect game was Eric Brown, who tossed a five-inning perfect game against Westover High School in 2002.
With his first career perfect performance, Lee set a new record at Richmond, while tying a NCHSAA record. Against the Bucks, Lee threw 71 pitches, racked up 11 strikeouts and only fell behind in the count three times.
Richmond’s win over Hoke County was its second in a row, which didn’t seem like a major victory at that particular point. However, the Raiders would travel to Hilton Head, S.C., a couple days later and sweep their competition (four games) to win the Seahawk Invitational, pushing the winning streak to six games. That momentum would carry over after spring break, as Richmond would win its next six games to extend its winning streak to an impressive 12 games. The run would come to an end against rival Scotland High School at home on senior night.
Lee’s perfection, along with the Raiders’ 12-game streak of dominance, was the top highlight from the 2018 baseball season. Richmond would lose its opening game in the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament to Purnell Swett High School, but managed to pick up a win in the first round of the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs against Davie County. However, the Raiders’ season came to an end a couple nights later to No. 2 seeded East Forsyth High School in the second round.
Below is the original game story written by sports contributor Deon Cranford on Friday, March 30:
Jonathan Lee throws a perfect game in 3-0 win over Hoke County
ROCKINGHAM – After struggling to overcome errors and find hits at the plate over the last couple of weeks, the Richmond Senior High School varsity baseball team rebounded in a big way on Thursday evening.
Jonathan Lee, the UNC-Pembroke bound senior pitcher for the Raiders, had an impressive night on the mound retiring all 21 Hoke County batters without giving up a single hit or walk. Lee’s perfect game combined with some well-timed hits by the Raiders in the bottom of the fourth inning resulted in a much needed 3-0 conference victory over the visiting Bucks.
The senior hurler tossed 71 pitches in the shutout win, striking out 11 Bucks, and only fell behind in the count three times.
“It feels good,” Lee said of the accomplishment. “I had good teammates tonight. No errors. They hit the ball really well and gave me some run support.”
‘“That was a great performance,” Richmond head coach Ricky Young said of Lee’s big night. “(Lee) was able to locate his fastball all night. His breaking ball was also really sharp.”
Lee didn’t do it alone. Just two days after a series of passed balls, bad throws, and fielding issues doomed the Raiders in a 6-5 loss to Hoke County in Raeford, the Raider nine played perfectly on defense. In fact, seven of the remaining eight starters recorded at least one assist or putout.
“The last couple of innings, we made some tough plays,” Young continued. “(Hoke) hit some balls off the end of the bat and handle that had some wicked spins on them. Our guys made a couple of plays that were a lot harder than they looked to preserve Lee’s perfect game. It was a team effort.”
At the plate, the Raiders had their hands full with Hoke County’s Ryan Taylor. Richmond managed to get a runner on base in each of the first three innings, but Taylor pitched his way out of trouble keeping the Raiders off of the scoreboard; that is, until the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Raider first baseman Jake Ransom got things started with a shot to right field for a leadoff single. Nolan Allen, who came in to run for Ransom, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cameron Carraway, and made it to third when Garet Weigman grounded out to Taylor.
The Raiders finally got onto the scoreboard when Drew Loving’s line drive hit hugged the inside of the right field line resulting in an RBI-double. The Raiders then received some help from Hoke County short stop Nick Lucchetti who scooped up a ground ball hit by Tyler Bass and threw it over the head of Buck first baseman Logan Goins. The game’s only error allowed Loving to score the second run of the game and gifted Bass with a free trip to second base.
After Brett Young was hit by a pitch, Alex Anderson took Taylor’s first offering and sent it into left field to bring home Bass for the game’s third and final run.
“Their guy pitched really well too,” Young said of Taylor. “I thought he pitched a great game. Our guys did a good job of locating his fastball. The last two games have been more of what I expected to see going into the year. We’ve had a lot more energy. It’s been a total team effort.”
Anderson finished the night 2-for-3 with an RBI. Loving went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.
Also in conference play, Pinecrest (12-1, 7-1) earned a 6-0 road victory over Lumberton (2-7, 1-6). That victory combined with Hoke County’s (8-7, 6-2) loss to Richmond leaves the Patriots all alone in first. Jack Britt (8-2, 6-2) won their home game against Purnell Swett (1-12, 1-7) by a score of 9-5. Scotland (9-4, 6-2) shut out Seventy-First (0-10, 0-7) by a score of 14-0 in five innings.
Richmond (7-5, 4-4) will take a break from conference action next week when they travel to Hilton Head, S.C., to compete in the Seahawk Invitational.
The conclusion to our countdown with the No. 1 top sports story from this past school year will be released in Monday’s edition.
