FAYETTEVILLE — Senior pitcher Caden Nolan threw a five-inning no-hitter Tuesday, making it smooth sailing for the Richmond Raider baseball team to return to the win column.
Rebounding from their first Mid-South Conference loss of the season last Friday, the Raiders had easy pickings on the road at Pine Forest High School.
Defeating the Trojans by the run rule for the second time in as many games this season, Richmond cruised to a 13-0 victory in five innings.
Between their two meetings this season, the Raiders have outscored Pine Forest 32-0.
Nolan, who has settled nicely into the No. 1 spot in the rotation, was just two batters over the minimum. Earning his team-leading third victory of the season, he struck out 12 batters and walked two in the win.
With four-batter innings in the first and fifth frames, Nolan was dialed in with 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fourth stanzas. He retired 11 straight batters in order starting with the second out of the first inning through the final out of the fourth.
Nolan’s strikeout mojo was working Tuesday, which resulted in his third outing this season with at least a dozen Ks. He struck out six straight batters in order between the second and third innings, and after a leadoff walk in the fifth, preserved the no-hitter with three more Ks.
At the dish, the Raiders scored a run in the second inning and took a 5-0 lead after the third. A seven-run top of the fourth broke the game open before Richmond added its final run in the fifth.
Having his best outing of the season, freshman Noah Stubbs finished the night 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a game-high four runs batted in.
Taking advantage of 10 free passes and five errors committed by Pine Forest, Richmond only had six hits in the win, all of which were singles.
Adding a base hit each were Nolan, freshman Julius Bowden, senior Maddox Locklear and sophomore Devin Haynes.
Driving in a pair of runs was Haynes, as Nolan, junior Drew Gause and sophomore Drew McCaskill each had one RBI.
The regular season series finale between the Raiders (7-3, 5-1 MSC) and the Trojans (0-9, 0-6 MSC) will take place Friday at Raider Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
