ROCKINGHAM — On the heels of the program’s most successful season in the better part of the last decade, the Richmond Senior High School baseball team is still missing a defining piece of that success.
Among the many accomplishments the Raiders hope to achieve in the forthcoming campaign, circled at the top of this season’s to-do list is to win a conference championship.
Head coach Eric Brown returns for his third season of leading his alma mater, and it’s this season he hopes will end a decade-long drought.
During Tuesday’s final practice before the season opener, Brown made it clear that 10 years between conference titles is too long for a program as storied and steeped in tradition as Richmond.
Continuing to set the bar high through rigorous regimens on and off the field, Brown believes the current lineup of Raiders is the team that can restore conference championship glory and hang a new banner for the first time since 2016.
A season ago, the Raiders posted an impressive 17-10 overall record, the most wins in a season since 2019. Against former Sandhills Athletic Conference teams, the Raiders posted a 9-4 record and placed second overall before winning the conference tournament championship.
With 14 players on this year’s roster, just six Raiders return as starters from a season ago. Two other players return as varsity contributors from last spring.
Richmond’s six other players include two varsity newcomers and four freshmen, two of whom are expected to float between varsity and junior varsity.
Anchoring this year’s lineup are two multiyear starters for the Raiders who are both committed to play college baseball – seniors Evan Hodges (Robeson Community College) and Caden Nolan (Belmont Abbey College).
Hodges and Nolan are also returning All-Conference players from last season, having joined former players Jabari Douglas, Landon Taylor and Jason Walker. Richmond will also be without former senior contributors Riley Brown, Conner Phifer and Jeremiah Ritter.
Serving as Swiss army knives for the Raiders, Hodges and Nolan are threats on offense, defense and on the mound. Likely the Raiders’ top two pitchers this spring, Hodges will also serve as the team’s primary catcher and Nolan will hold down shortstop when they’re not on the mound.
Nolan threw 47 innings as a junior, the second most on the team. He finished with Walker with a team-high 68 strikeouts and had a 2.09 earned run average. At the dish, he swatted .343 with a team-leading 19 runs batted in.
Hodges tossed 33.2 innings last season, struck out 28 batters and limited opponents to a .254 batting average, the lowest on staff, with a 2.08 ERA. Also able to bring the boom with the bat, he returns as the team’s leading hitter (.380 batting average, 30 hits).
A staple in the outfield, senior Jake Veach is also a returning starter this season. Back for this second year at the varsity level, Veach will hold down centerfield and help lead an outfield that will have two new starters in left and right.
Hoping to build onto his .167 batting average and seven RBI last season, Veach is a speedster when closing the outfield gaps and stealing bases. He swiped eight bags as a junior and was a perfect 42-for-42 on putouts (1.000 fielding percentage).
Another senior with multiple years of varsity experience is Maddox Locklear, who played his first three years of high school baseball at Scotland High School.
An All-Conference selection as a sophomore, Locklear, who plays middle infielder, has been teammates with many of the Raiders with the Hamlet American Legion program. There is the possibility that Locklear will throw some innings on the mound, too.
The Raiders will also bring back junior infielder Drew Gause and sophomore infielder and pitcher Devin Haynes. Gause started at second base as a sophomore and batted .217 with seven RBI, while Haynes played the left side of the infield, pitched 16 innings and hit .216.
Brown noted that Haynes, Hodges and Nolan will likely be the top three go-to pitchers in the rotation, adding who takes what role or who becomes the top starter are things that will work themselves out as the season unfolds.
Richmond’s other two returners this spring are juniors Tristan Chavis (pitcher/utility) and Jakob Trexler (infielder). Both played some innings as sophomores, but this season their roles will expand on both sides of the ball.
Senior pitcher Colton Brown rejoins the team this season and sophomore Drew McCaskill, a transfer student, will suit up for the Raiders for the first time this spring as an infielder and an outfielder.
The two freshmen to make the full time varsity roster are Julius Bowden (outfielder) and Noah Stubbs (infielder/pitcher). The Raiders’ two go-between freshmen are Nate Culbreth and Colton Nelson.
After they placed second in the regular season standings in 2025, the Raiders rolled through the conference tournament and upset top-seeded Pinecrest High School. That type of play, energy and standard is where Brown hopes the Raiders can rise to again this season.
Pinecrest and Hoke County High School will remain conference opponents this season, the latter of which the Raiders swept in regular season play.
New MSC opponents will be Jack Britt, Overhills and Pine Forest High Schools, and all conference series will be three games. The Jaguars and Trojans each made the postseason last year, but exited in the first round like Richmond.
In Brown’s two seasons, the team has made the postseason both times but hasn’t been able to advance. Last year’s playoff heartbreaker went 11 innings against Leesville Road High School and ended in a 1-0 defeat.
A long term goal for the Raiders in the coming months is to not only get back to the playoffs, but get over that first-round hump.
Assisting Brown on staff again this year are Anthony Hailey, Ryan Mercer, Andy Shuler and Kevin Wallace. Hailey will serve as the junior varsity head coach and new to the staff this spring is Landon Cowick.
Opening their season at home this spring, the Raiders will host former conference opponent Lee County High School Wednesday. First pitch for the varsity-only game is slated for 6 p.m.
SEASON SCHEDULE: Click here for an always up-to-date schedule for the Richmond baseball team.
The Richmond Observer will continue its award-winning coverage of the varsity and junior baseball teams this spring.
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