HILTON HEAD, S.C. – For the third day in a row, the Richmond varsity baseball team relied on dominant starting pitching and timely hitting to remain undefeated in the Seahawk Invitational at Hilton Head High School and enter the championship game.
The Raiders shut down George Washington High School (Charleston, W. Va.) 4-1 in Wednesday afternoon’s action, thanks in part to Drew Loving’s complete game on the mound. The senior pitcher threw seven innings, allowed just four hits, a run and struck out three Patriots batters.
Entering the Seahawk Invitational, Richmond had won two straight games, and the win over George Washington made it five straight victories for the boys in green and gold. The Raiders put together a five-hit performance in the semifinal round, with Loving helping his cause on the mound by smacking a team-high two hits (both singles) and collecting an RBI in the process.
“Drew pitched the ball really well for us today,” head coach Ricky Young said after the win. “He really didn’t get into much trouble, but had a couple of innings where he was able to work out of some small jams. But other than that, he controlled the game, threw well and had good defense behind him.”
Through the first three games of the spring break tournament, Richmond has outscored its opponents 14-6, and has found a way to pull away late in games at the plate. The matchup with George Washington wasn’t any different, as a couple of early mistakes by the Patriots aided Richmond’s quick start.
In the top of the second inning, the Raiders used some small ball to score the first run of the game. GW pitcher Brayden McCallister walked lead-off batter Garet Weigman, who was replaced by Jahan Jones as a courtesy runner. Jones moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Loving back to McCallister on the mound.
On the very next pitch, Braxton Furstein laid down another perfect bunt back to McCallister. But with the third baseman charging toward the bunt, third base was left unattended, putting no pressure on Jones to advance. McCallister fielded the ball and threw Furstein out at first, allowing a hustling Jones to round third and score.
Loving was lights out all game on the hill, but started the game by not allowing a Patriot hit through three and two-thirds innings. Grant Wells hit a hard ground ball to Furstein at third base for an infield single, but was caught stealing in the next at-bat.
Both teams had opportunities in the middle innings with base runners, but neither was able to open up the scoreboard. Richmond struck again in the top of the sixth inning, going up 2-0 when Cameron Carraway crossed the plate on a passed ball.
The Patriots finally broke into the scoring column in the home half of the sixth when Loving loaded the bases with a walk, single and a hit batter. GW’s Preston Taylor came up with the bases loaded and one out and hit a ground ball to Justin Ingram, who committed an error, allowing everyone to advance a base safely.
Richmond’s bats finally found some scoring pop in the final inning of the game, first with a Jake Ransom RBI double which scored Jonathan Lee from third (who led off the inning with a single to center field). After a fly ball out for the second out of the inning, Loving helped his cause by cranking a single to left field and scoring Nolan Allen (courtesy runner for Ransom).
Up 4-1 heading into the final half inning, Loving shut down the Patriots in the final stanza, getting two ground ball outs and a strikeout to pick up his third win of the season.
“All game long we were able to get people on base and we played a lot of small ball,” Young explained. “That allowed us to move people into scoring position with bunts. And we had a few key hits that helped us scratch out a win.”
With the win, the Raiders will play Thursday in the championship round of the Seahawk Invitational. At the time of this publication, the Raiders are still waiting to see who and when they will play, as there are three teams finishing third-round play Wednesday night.
