SANFORD, N.C. — The Richmond Rattlers’ junior varsity baseball team tried to get its holiday week off to a firecracker start, but its attempt fizzled out late against Southern Lee.
On the road against the Cavaliers, the Rattlers dropped their third straight Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League game. Richmond fell 12-10 to the Southern Lee on Tuesday. In the series opener last Thursday, Richmond dropped a 19-7 decision in five innings.
The Rattlers would score two runs in the top of the first inning to take an early lead, using RBI singles from rising freshman Ethan Clayton and rising sophomore Jude Howard. Clayton scored rising sophomore Chandler Orr (single), while Howard brought in Clayton.
Howard got the start on the mound for the Rattlers and went 2.2 innings, allowing three runs in the first to the Cavaliers. His best inning of the night was the bottom of the second, where he faced just four batters.
With Richmond tailing 3-2 after the two complete, Southern Lee added three more runs in the bottom of the third. Howard was replaced by rising sophomore Matthew Walker with two outs in the inning, and he tossed two innings of relief.
The Rattlers slithered their way back into the game in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs to make it a 6-4 ball game. Walker led off with a single and later scored, and rising sophomore Dexter Mabe scored Clayton (double) on a 5-3 fielder’s choice.
A five-run inning by Southern Lee in the bottom of the fifth gave the host team enough runs to earn the win. With two outs in the half inning, rising sophomore Caleb Talton came in to relieve Walker. The Cavs added one more run in the home half of the sixth off Talton.
Orr and Clayton got Richmond’s six inning started by reaching base safely on a hit-by-pitch and a walk, respectively. Both would later score, and Mabe would pick up his second RBI of the game with a single. He, too, would later score in the inning after a series of walks to the Rattlers.
Down to their final three outs and trailing 12-7, the Rattlers wouldn’t go away quietly. Richmond tacked on three more runs in the top of the seventh, but their rally came up just short. Talton, Orr and Walker loaded the bases with one out, and a Clayton grounder to first scored Talton.
Mabe stepped in and roped another RBI single to record his team-high third run batted in, and Walker would cap Richmond’s scoring.
Now 2-5 on the summer, the JV squad will take a week off for the Fourth of July and return to action for the second half of its season next Tuesday. The Rattlers will be on the road at Pinecrest High School for the first of a three-game series. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
