ROCKINGHAM — Ahead of the new season, Richmond head baseball coach Eric Brown said pitching and defense would likely be the keys to successful nights on the diamond.
That proved true for the Raiders in their Sandhills Athletic Conference opener Tuesday, as they erased an early deficit to defeat Southern Lee High School 3-1.
Senior starting pitcher James Eason powered the Raiders to their second straight victory to start the new slate. He threw a complete game on just 83 pitches.
Eason’s line was one unearned run in seven innings on eight hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.
Despite being outhit 8-5, the Raiders dug deep to support Eason’s efforts, and plated two runs in the third and another in the fourth inning.
Barreling up a hit apiece were Eason, juniors Riley Brown, Jeremiah Ritter (double), Landon Taylor (triple) and sophomore Evan Hodges. Eason, Hodges and Taylor also drove in one run apiece, with Eason’s being the game-winner.
With one away in the top of the first, the Cavaliers (1-3, 0-1 SAC) scored their only run of the game. With a runner on first, a hit and an error resulted in an early 1-0 lead.
Eason faced five batters in the second and stranded two base runners, and cut that to four batters in the third, leaving another runner on first.
That paved the way to a productive home half of the third for the Raiders, who scored all they would eventually need.
Freshman Collin Hill, like he did in last week’s comeback win, started the pivotal inning with a leadoff walk. Turning over the lineup, Taylor dug in and lasered an RBI triple to right field to tie the game 1-1.
Two batters later, Eason helped his own cause with an RBI single on a hard ground ball to left field, scoring Taylor easily from third. In the bottom of the fourth after another four-batter top half by Eason, a free pass to junior Jason Walker put him on the start the frame. Following an out and a walk to Taylor, Walker moved to third on a passed ball and Taylor swiped second. That gave Hodges an opportunity to lift a fly ball single to the grass in center to score Richmond’s final run. Eason kept dealing, sitting the Cavaliers down on four batters in the fifth and in order in the sixth. Ritter helped defensively in the sixth, hosing a runner from center field after trying to stretch a single into a double. Securing the win, Eason struck out the leadoff batter in the seventh and helped turn a 1-4-3 game-ending double play. The Raiders (2-0, 1-0 SAC) will host non-conference Sun Valley High School (1-0) Wednesday. The varsity-only matchup is set for 6 p.m. Sports editor’s note: The Richmond junior varsity baseball team lost 10-3 to Southern Lee Tuesday. A full article, along with photos, will be published Wednesday evening. All stats and game information provided by the Raiders’ GameChanger app. Photos courtesy of Cindy Bostick.
