LAURINBURG — Getting even Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School baseball team got back in the win column with a statement victory.
Bouncing back from a close loss at home Tuesday, the Raiders pelted the scoreboard to defeat Scotland High School 11-4.
Splitting the regular-season Sandhills Athletic Conference series, the Raiders had no problem finding the outfield grass or home plate. Connecting for a single-game season-high 17 hits, the offense gave junior starting pitcher Caden Nolan a big cushion to work with.
Nearly going the distance, Nolan pitched 6.2 innings to record the victory. He exited after reaching the pitch count with one out remaining.
Nolan was dialed in and struck out nine Fighting Scots, while allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits.
Getting the final out on just one pitch was senior pitcher Jeremiah Ritter. He got a pop up in foul territory that was tracked down by sophomore first baseman Collin Hill.
Also doing damage at the plate, Nolan went 4-for-5 with a double, a run batted in and two runs scored. Seniors Conner Phifer and Landon Taylor both went 3-for-5 and drove in one RBI apiece.
Richmond scored its first two runs in the top of the second inning with starting pitcher Robbie Peed (3.2 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits) on the mound. Freshman Devin Haynes started the scoring with an RBI groundout to third base, which scored sophomore Drew Gause (double).
Four pitches later, junior Jake Veach barreled up an RBI single to center field to plate Phifer (single). Haynes and Veach were the first two of eight Raiders to register at least one RBI.
Nolan retired the first seven batters he faced and maintained the two-run lead with a four-batter bottom of the third inning.
Sending eight batters to the plate in the top of the fourth, Richmond broke the game open with a four-run inning. Singles by Phifer and Haynes to start the inning led to Veach reaching safely on a bunt attempt when a throwing error sailed down the first base line, plating both runners.
Veach hustled to third on the miscue and scored when senior Jabari Douglas lifted a sacrifice fly to center field in the next plate appearance to make it a 5-0 lead.
Taylor singled to keep the inning going and later scored when Nolan found the gap in center field for a standup RBI double.
The Fighting Scots (11-8, 7-5 SAC) recorded their first run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI groundout.
With two outs in the top of the fifth and the bases loaded, Taylor hustled out an infield single to the shortstop to bring in Haynes (walk) to make it a 7-1 advantage.
A run for Scotland in the home half marked the second of four consecutive one-run innings for the Fighting Scots. Phifer recorded his solo RBI with a hard-hit ground ball single back up the middle in the top of the sixth. Nolan, who singled to lead off the inning, scored from third.
Putting an exclamation point on the win, the Raiders plated three insurance runs in the top of the seventh to jump ahead 11-3. A one-out walk to junior Evan Hodges and a single by Nolan put two runners on for Hill.
Facing reliever Dylan Tilson (3.1 innings, 5 runs, 7 hits), Hill mashed a line drive triple to the warning track in the right field corner for his two RBI in the game. Sliding safely under the relay throw, Hill scored the final run when Gause grounded out in the next at-bat.
Scotland scored its final run with two outs in the seventh before Ritter shut the door with his one-pitch performance.
Gause and Haynes each had two hits in the win, while Douglas, Hill and Veach all contributed one hit.
Richmond (13-7, 8-4 SAC), which currently sits in third place in the conference standings, will participate in the Beach Diamond Classic hosted by West Brunswick High School over spring break.
The Raiders will open the tournament against West Stanly High School Monday at 4 p.m.
