CAMERON — Getting back on track Friday, the Richmond Senior High School baseball team secured its second straight Sandhills Athletic Conference series sweep.
Thanks to a balanced diet of offense and pitching, along with a fast start, the Raiders defeated Union Pines High School 7-5.
Clinching the sweep on the road, Richmond extended its winning streak against SAC opponents to four games (dating back to its series with Hoke County High School).
Scoring all of their runs between the first two innings, the Raiders’ large lead allowed junior starting pitcher Caden Nolan to pitch with confidence. Nolan threw five innings to get the win and allowed five earned runs on six hits, six walks and seven strikeouts.
Closing the door with the save opportunity was freshman Devin Haynes, who tossed two scoreless innings of relief. He didn’t surrender a hit, walked just one batter and had two punchouts.
On the second pitch of the game from June Thomas (three innings, eight hits, seven runs), senior leadoff batter Jabari Douglas powered a solo home run over the wall in left field to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. It was Douglas’ first career varsity homer.
Later in the inning with the bases loaded and one out, sophomore Drew Gause doubled the early lead with an RBI base hit to center field. Scoring from third base was senior Landon Taylor (single).
The Vikings (3-8, 1-5 SAC) knotted the score up in the home half on a pair of bases-loaded walks with two outs.
The Raiders broke the game open with a five-run top of the second inning. One-out singles by Douglas and Taylor, combined with junior Evan Hodges reaching on a hit-by-pitch, loaded the bases for Nolan.
Reaching on an error on a ground ball back to the mound, Nolan made it a 3-0 lead when Dougals scored on the miscue.
Digging in next for Richmond was sophomore Collin Hill, who lasered the first offering from Thomas on a line drive to right field. The base hit recorded two runs batted in for Hill, plating Taylor and Hodges.
Hill swiped second base to get into scoring position, which paid off two batters later. Haynes delivered with a two-out, two-RBI single to center, which scored sophomore courtesy runner Jakob Trexler (running for Nolan) and Hill.
Union Pines scored solo runs in the second, fourth and sixth frames to get within two runs of Richmond’s lead.
Nolan recorded 1-2-3 innings in the third and fifth frames, and Haynes sat the Vikings down in order in the seventh.
Taylor finished the game with a team-high three hits, a third of Richmond’s nine total hits. Douglas and Haynes each had two hits, while Hill and Gause had one hit apiece.
Richmond (8-6, 5-3 SAC) opens its two-game conference series at Lee County High School (7-5, 4-2 SAC) Tuesday. The road game in Sanford will start at 7 p.m.
