FAYETTEVILLE — The Richmond Senior High School junior varsity baseball team faced Jack Britt High School Tuesday and avenged a loss from earlier in the season.
Playing the second of the three-game season series with Jack Britt, the JV Raiders rolled to a 17-3 win in four innings (time limit).
Erasing a two-run deficit after the first inning, the JV Raiders plated five runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead.
Nine runs in the top of the third frame made it 14 unanswered runs for Richmond. After Jack Britt scored its final run in the home half, the JV Raiders added their final three runs in the fourth.
Freshman Sam O’Neal finished with a team-leading four runs batted in. Fellow freshman Jackson Parsons added three RBI and freshman Jaxton Watson drove in a pair.
Sophomore Kerick Hairston Jr., along with freshmen Colton Nelson and Cooper Gainey, each had one RBI.
Nelson pitched a complete game and held the JV Bucs to three runs (two earned) on four hits and had eight strikeouts.
Parsons tied the game 2-2 with a two-RBI base hit to center field to start the top of the second. Hairston Jr. gave the JV Raiders the lead with a base hit to score Parsons.
A wild pitch later brought in Hairston Jr. and O’Neal (walk) also scored to make it 5-2.
With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the third, Parsons drove in his final RBI with a single to right. Watson (walk) also scored to make it a five-run lead.
O’Neal got his run production started two pitches later when he hit a base hit to left field, which brought in a pair of runners. Moving both runners up on the next pitch, Nelson drove in a run with a single.
Leading 10-2, a single by Watson, coupled with an error on the same play, scored three runs. The big inning ended when Gainey doubled home Watson to build the lead to 14-2.
An inning later and with the lead cut to 11 runs, O’Neal capped his big performance with a two-RBI double with one out in the fourth. Watson’s final RBI, as well as the team’s, came on a single with two gone.
Five players had two hits each – O’Neal, Nelson, Watson, Gainey and Parsons. Hairston Jr. and freshmen Brody Bryant and Nate Culbreth all had one hit.
The JV Raiders (6-3, 6-2 MSC) will host the JV Buccaneers Thursday at 4:30 p.m. to wrap up the regular season’s three-game series between the teams.
Sports editor’s note: Game information and statistics provided by Richmond’s GameChanger.
