HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Raiders baseball team stayed hot Tuesday afternoon as it blew past No. 5-ranked Chapman High School (Inman, S.C.) 6-3 in the second round of the Seahawk Invitational at Hilton Head High School.
After snagging a 4-2 win over Hilton Head on Monday using the platoon of pitchers Hunter Parris and Drew Grant on the mound, it was senior right-hander Trey Watkins who diced up the Panthers’ bats in Tuesday’s action. Watkins dominated the game, going 6.2 innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run. Junior Cam Carraway came in to get the remaining out, but allowed Chapman to score three runs.
“Trey was dominant tonight, but he just ran out pitches to work with,” head coach Ricky Young said following his team’s impressive win. “He was able to work his way out of a couple of tight spots and gave us a chance to win. And (Cam) came in and we were able to finish the game.”
Richmond got the first inning off with a bang as senior left-hander Jonathan Lee smacked a one-out solo shot to right field, his third bomb of the season. Lee, who raked a two-run homer in Monday’s win, continued to stay hot at the plate, going 4-for-4 against Chapman with a homer, two doubles, a single and a walk. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, and attempted to stretch a double, but was tagged out on the throw on a “bang-bang play.”
The Raiders struck again in the top of the third inning when Alex Anderson walked to lead off the inning and scored two batters later when Gordon Pihl powered a line drive RBI single to center field. Phil would work some two-out magic in the fourth inning when he sent a rocket to third baseman Eason Atkins, and reached on an error. The errant play allowed Anderson to score (who reached on a walk two batters prior) and gave the Raiders a 4-0 lead.
Watkins helped out his cause when he drew a walk in the top of the fifth inning, and was replaced with courtesy runner Garet Weigman. Senior Drew Loving delivered a couple of batters later with an RBI single. Carraway would cap of Richmond scoring in the sixth, plating Anderson on another RBI single.
Down to their last out after Watkins was pulled off the mound, the Panthers collected three straight singles off of Carraway to break into the scoring column, trailing 6-2. Chapman ace Skye Robinette scored the team’s final run when Richmond committed an error in center field.
“Jonathan was great at the plate for us tonight,” Young commented. “Coming into the tournament, we’d dug ourselves a hole early, but we knew we had a lot of season left. We are taking it one game at a time, and we’ve played better lately. We swung the bat and pitched well today.”
