ROCKINGHAM — Precision command from the arm of a senior pitcher and early run support fueled the Richmond Senior High School baseball team to a mercy-rule win in its season opener Wednesday.
Not wasting any time getting into the win column, the Raiders and third-year head coach Eric Brown welcomed former conference opponent Lee County High School.
Behind five shutout innings from senior pitcher Caden Nolan, the Raiders cruised to a 10-0 win in six innings.
The victory was also the 100th career victory for Brown, who has now won 32 games with Richmond dating back to the start of the 2024 season.
Nolan was dialed in from the opening pitch, as he allowed just one hit over his five innings of work. He finished the night with a new single-game career-high 14 strikeouts – which accounted for all but one of his outs.
Mowing through the Yellow Jackets’ lineup, Nolan faced six batters in the first, gave up his lone hit and stranded the bases loaded. All three outs were via the punchout.
Nolan followed by striking out the side in order in the second, faced four batters in the third and added two more strikeouts, and K’d three more batters in the fourth despite hitting two batters with a pitch.
Putting an exclamation point on his outing, Nolan recorded another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth with a trio of strikeouts. Eight of his punchouts were swinging and the other six were looking.
Responsible for the final inning of work on the mound was junior Tristan Chavis. He allowed the first two runners on base, but used a caught stealing and consecutive Ks to end the frame.
Richmond lit up the scoreboard with four runs in the top of the first and added a pair of runs in the next inning to take a 6-0 lead. That held until the Raiders plated two runs in the fifth and walked it off with two runs in the sixth.
Recording the walk-off RBI on a groundout in the home half of the sixth was freshman Julius Bowden, who made a splash in his high school debut with a team-leading three RBI.
Richmond’s bats went to work with one out in the top first, starting with a single by junior Drew Gause and a free pass taken by senior Evan Hodges. Nolan helped his cause in the next at-bat with an RBI base knock to left field, which scored Gause.
With two gone and freshman courtesy runner Nate Culbreth and Nolan both in scoring position after a passed ball, sophomore Devin Haynes drew a base on balls to load the bases. Sophomore Drew McCaskill was credited with an RBI when he drew a walk to plate Culbreth.
Digging in for his first high school at-bat, Bowden connected on the third offering from starting pitcher Alston Beal (2 innings, 6 runs, 5 hits, 4 walks) and slashed it through the left side of the infield for a two-RBI base hit. Both Nolan and Haynes scored to increase the lead to 4-0.
An inning later, Richmond loaded the bases with one out thanks to a single from senior Maddox Locklear, a base knock by Hodges and a Nolan walk.
Freshman Noah Stubbs recorded his first career RBI on a fielder’s choice back to the mound, which scored Locklear. A couple of pitches later, an errant pickoff attempt by Beal to second base allowed Culbreth (running for Hodges) to cross the plate.
Finding some two-out magic again in the fifth inning, senior Jake Veach ripped an RBI base knock back up the middle to score Bowden (error) from second base.
Veach moved to second on the throw and made it to third base on a passed ball. With Locklear in the box, the first-year Raider put the ball in play and reached on a throwing error, which allowed Veach to make it 8-0.
Sending just five batters to the plate in the home half of the sixth, Richmond started the inning with a single by Nolan, his team-leading third hit of the game. Two batters later with one out, Haynes recorded an RBI base hit to center, scoring Nolan to extend the lead to nine runs.
Following a free pass taken by junior Jakob Trexler, and with Haynes on third, Bowden did his job when he chopped a grounder to the right side of the infield. Out at first was Bowden, but Haynes timed the play to race home and slide across the plate for the game-ending run.
All of Richmond’s 10 hits were singles, led by Nolan (3) and Locklear (2). Adding one hit apiece were Bowden, Gause, Haynes, Hodges and Veach.
Six Raiders drove in one RBI – Haynes, Locklear, McCaskill, Nolan, Stubbs and Veach.
With the season-opening victory, Richmond (1-0) will begin its two-game non-conference series against longtime foe Scotland High School (0-1). Game one is slated for Friday at home at 6 p.m., followed by game two at Scotland next Tuesday.
Richmond’s junior varsity team did not play Wednesday, nor will it play the next two days the varsity Raiders are scheduled to play.
Sports editor’s note: Game information and statistics provided by the Raiders’ GameChanger.
