SANFORD, N.C. — After having four days off between games, the Richmond Rattlers’ varsity baseball team came out with a bang during Tuesday’s road game at Southern Lee High School.
Two days before the Fourth of July holiday, the Rattlers saw their bats light up the scoreboard, while three pitchers combined to extinguish the Cavaliers’ efforts. Richmond would roll to a 14-2 mercy-rule victory in six innings, making it the second most runs scored in a game this summer.
The Rattlers would score three runs in three different innings, and use a five-run top of the second inning to break the game open. Rising senior Luke Preslar made the start on the mound and picked up the win after tossing three innings and allowing just one run.
Rising sophomores Cameron Way and JD Lampley would come in and combine to pitch the final three frames, allowing just one run on two hits. The pair of righties also combined to strike out six batters.
Southern Lee would score solo runs in the bottom of the third and fifth inning.
Richmond got out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first, using hits from rising senior Dallas Cowick, Preslar and Lampley to get on the board.
An inning later, the first four batters for the Rattlers would reach base safely and score. Passed balls by Southern Lee’s catcher allowed rising senior Austin Talton (double), rising junior Tony Gathings (walk) and rising senior Harrison Chance (hit-by-pitch) to score. Lampley would record the second of his team-high four RBIs on a sacrifice fly to center.
To close out the offensive outburst, Richmond added three runs in both the fourth and sixth innings. Rising junior Hunter Hancock, Cowick and Way would all cross home safely in the fourth, and rising sophomore Colin Wheeler added a double in the same inning.
A quiet fifth inning, just the second inning all game the Rattlers didn’t score a run, was followed by three more runs in the sixth to put the mercy-rule win into effect. Chance, Cowick and Preslar would be responsible for scoring the final three runs for Richmond, as Lampley helped his cause on the mound with a two-RBI double.
The combined efforts of the three pitchers, along with the team’s 14 runs on seven hits, pulled the varsity team’s Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League record to 4-3.
Like the junior varsity team, the Rattlers will have off until next Tuesday when they travel to Pinecrest High School for the first of a three-game series against their Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
