ROCKINGHAM — Down but never out was the mantra of the Richmond Senior High School baseball team during Friday’s season series finale with a conference opponent.
Thanks to a little two-out magic in the middle innings, coupled with smart at-bats and a timely hit late, the Raiders completed their three-game season sweep of Hoke County High School.
Playing hero with a walk-off RBI single was senior Jake Veach, who put the exclamation point on a 4-3 comeback win in eight innings for Richmond.
Head coach Eric Brown stated afterward that Friday’s victory was “a huge conference win” against a Bucks team that has played the Raiders competitively in all three games.
The three-game brooming of Hoke County marked the third straight series sweep for the Raiders this season, adding onto sweeps of Pine Forest and Jack Britt high schools.
Similar to their game three win over Jack Britt, Friday’s win was the result of the Raiders’ resiliency and no-quit attitude in the later innings.
Trailing 3-0 after four and a half innings, Richmond plated three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.
Despite leaving two runners on base in the fifth, and stranding the bases loaded in the seventh, the Raiders needed just one more inning to score the game-winning run.
The Bucks, who are tied with Jack Britt for third in the MSC standings, scored solo runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings off starting sophomore pitcher Devin Haynes.
Giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts in five innings, Haynes escaped the potential loss thanks to Richmond’s three-run bottom of the fifth.
Senior Evan Hodges dazzled in three innings of shutout relief to get the win. He struck out six batters and allowed just one hit. Following an error in the top of the eighth, Hodges left the potential go-ahead run at third base with his final punchout.
It was Veach who got Richmond’s rally started in the bottom of the fifth when he turned the right fielder in circles with a two-out standup triple. Two pitches into the next at-bat with freshman Julius Bowden at the plate, a wild pitch scored Veach to make it a 3-1 deficit.
Extending the inning with an RBI triple was senior Maddox Locklear, who saw his line drive to left field roll to the wall and score Bowden (error).
One pitch later, senior Caden Nolan chopped a hard-hit RBI single back up the middle to plate Locklear and tie the game 3-3.
A leadoff walk to Veach to start the bottom of the seventh saw him stranded at second base.
After Hodges coolly quieted the Bucks with his sixth strikeout to end the threat in the top of the eighth, the Raiders sent five batters to the plate and used a combination of patience and small ball to gut out the win.
Junior Drew Gause drew a leadoff walk from reliever Carson Hewitt and moved to second when Haynes put down a sacrifice bunt to the right side of the infield. Freshman Noah Stubbs followed with a four-pitch walk to put two runners on.
Junior pinch hitter Jakob Trexler helped set up the game-winning hit by winning an eight-pitch at-bat and reaching first safely on a base on balls.
Digging in next was Veach, who wasted no time to hit a hard groundball single past the shortstop and into the outfield to bring in Gause as the winning run. After the game, Veach credited Trexler for his “big AB” to keep the inning alive.
Richmond was outhit 7-5 by the Bucks (8-9, 5-6 MSC). Veach’s triple and single led the team, Locklear had a three-bagger, and Nolan and Gause each singled.
With the win, the Raiders remained in a comfortable second place spot in the MSC standings and pulled within half a game of current leader Pinecrest High School.
A three-game week for the Raiders (14-4, 10-1 MSC) concludes Saturday with its annual alumni weekend. Richmond will host non-conference Ashley High School (4-15) at 4 p.m.
A tailgate for Raider baseball alumni will be held in the fieldhouse parking lot during the JV baseball game, starting at 1 p.m. Richmond will also recognize the 50-year anniversary of the 1976 state championship-winning baseball team.
Sports editor’s note: Game information and statistics provided by Richmond’s GameChanger.
