ROCKINGHAM - A six-day break between games may have collected some dust on the bats of the Richmond Rattlers senior baseball team, but thanks to a complete team effort, the boys in green picked up their ninth-straight win Wednesday over the Southern Lee Cavaliers.
Having not lost a game since the second game of the season on June 14 against a state champion Fuquay-Varina team, the Rattlers (9-2) have gone on a tear of playing solid baseball in the Central Carolina Scholastic Summer League. In that span, they’ve swept teams from Pinecrest, Scotland and Union Pines high schools, winning three contests in mercy-rule fashion.
Coming off a three-game sweep of Union Pines last week, which the Rattlers outscored the Vikings 35-3, Wednesday’s game was closer, but the end result was the same. With cooler temperatures settling over Richmond’s ballpark, it was rising junior left-hander Mitchell Paul who stayed July hot. Getting his second start in as many games, Paul was lights out from the mound, as he led the Rattlers to a 6-4 victory.
Paul (2-1) went 5.2 innings in the win, and allowed just two hits, while striking out three batters. He managed sit the Cavaliers down in order in the second and fifth innings, and faced just four batters in the second and third innings. While he did walk five batters, he kept the damage to a minimum, holding the Cavs at bay on the scoreboard until the top of the sixth inning.
“I thought Mitchell threw the ball really well tonight,” head coach Ricky Young said of his starting pitcher’s performance. “One thing we try to impress on all of our pitchers, especially Mitchell, is to pitch to contact. We want him to throw strikes and let the defense work. He doesn’t have to have a lot of strikeouts. He got tired (late), but did a good job for us on the mound.”
Young was without four of his starting players due to vacations, and while it was a slow offensive start to the game, Paul’s dominance from the mound, coupled with a four-run fifth inning by the Rattlers’ bats helped secure the win.
Rising junior Dallas Cowick led off the bottom of the first by getting plunked in the helmet, and later scored with two outs when rising senior Garret Richardson got caught in a run down between first and second, allowing Cowick to sprint home before the final out was recorded.
Richmond added another run to its lead an inning later thanks to an error by Southern Lee’s shortstop. Rising senior Nolan Allen, who led off the second by beating out an infield single, scored on the error to give the Rattlers a 2-0 lead.
Richmond’s best inning of the night was the bottom of the fifth, as it took advantage of a Southern Lee pitching change by sending 10 batters to the plate and broke the game open by scoring four runs. Rising senior Christopher Austin led off with a walk, and was moved to second base on an Evan Hudson swinging bunt single down the third base line. Rising junior Luke Preslar overcame a 1-2 count to draw a walk and load the bases for Collin Wheeler.
Wheeler, a rising freshman, got his first nod behind the plate as catcher at the varsity level due to both of Richmond’s senior team’s catchers being absent. With the bases jacked, Wheeler nabbed his first career RBI with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Austin. Both Hudson and Preslar moved up a base on the same play.
With one out and runners of second and third, Cowick delivered with an RBI on a 6-3 fielder’s choice, scoring Hudson from third. Preslar was able to advance to third on the play, and scored an at-bat later when rising senior Brett Young ripped an RBI single up the middle. Young would score the Rattlers’ final run of the game after stealing third base and trotting home on an errant throw by Southern Lee’s catcher.
“I thought the guys did well with us having so many guys out,” Young said. “Nolan swung the bat well and had a big night at the plate. We had one big inning where we were able to capitalize, stole some bases, got a bunt down, which are all things we like to do.”
In the field, Richmond’s defense backed up Paul’s effort on the mound, collecting five ground ball outs and seven fly ball outs. Paul pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first inning without allowing a run, but ran into a little trouble late in the sixth inning.
After loading the bases with just one out in the top of the sixth, Paul managed to get a Cavalier batter to sky a ball to second base, putting the infield fly rule into effect. He looked to be working his way out of the inning by getting two strikes on the next batter, but on a come-backer to the mound, Paul overthrew his first baseman and watched as the ball squirted down the right field line. All three base runners scored on the play, and the batter reached third safely.
Young called in Hudson, a rising senior sidearm pitcher, and it only took Hudson one pitch to end the threat, as he got a fly ball to land into Hunter Parris’ glove at third.
Hudson threw 1.1 innings and picked up the save in the seventh inning, but it wasn’t without Southern Lee making it interesting. After getting a strikeout looking, Hudson watched as his corner outfielders made back-to-back errors on tough fly balls in left and right field, respectively. With runners on the corners and one out, a fielder’s choice to Cowick at second made it a 6-4 ball game.
Southern Lee had the tying run at the plate, but rising senior first baseman Logan Moore made a game-saving play to record the final out. A hard hit grounder to first skipped up and hit Moore in the chest, but he corralled the ball and made the unassisted putout at first to shut the door on the Cavs.
Allen, who has been swinging a hot bat this summer, led the Rattlers with a perfect 3-for-3 night at the plate (three singles), while also scoring a run. Young batted 1-for-3 with an RBI, run scored and two stolen bases. Cowick and Wheeler both added an RBI of their own, while Austin and Hudson each scored one run in the win.
“Wins are important because the players gain confidence,” Young concluded. “It’s good to learn how to win when certain guys aren’t here and when things maybe don’t go your way sometimes. Finding a way to win is important.”
Richmond will hit the road Thursday to complete the two-game set against the Cavaliers, traveling to Sanford for a 7:30 p.m. start.
