ROCKINGHAM — Senior infielder Jabari Douglas said the Richmond Raider baseball team “kept playing small ball” to score runs in Tuesday’s victory.
A night after shutting out Hoke County to start the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament, No. 2 Richmond grinded out a 4-2 win over No. 3 Lee County High School.
Scoring all four of their runs in the bottom of the second inning, the Raiders relied on the pitching efforts of senior Jason Walker and sophomore Collin Hill to quiet the Yellow Jackets’ bats.
Meeting for the third time this season, Richmond completed the trifecta over Lee County. In those three games, the Raiders outscored the Yellow Jackets 19-5.
Walker, who has served as the Raiders’ go-to starter on the mound this season, threw four innings to collect the win. He allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and struck out three batters.
Also striking out three batters, Hill tossed three scoreless innings of relief. Apart from two walks, Hill didn’t allow any hits and was credited with the nine-out save.
A leadoff single by the Yellow Jackets in the top of the first inning later led to their first run. With one away and a runner on third base, Lee County took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly. Richmond appealed the call that the runner left early but didn’t get the run overturned.
After the Raiders stranded two base runners in the home half, Walker dealt an efficient top of the second. Getting a strikeout, a ground out and a fly out, he retired Lee County in order on 13 pitches.
Batting through the order in the bottom of the second, the Raiders scored their four runs on four hits. Sophomore Drew Gause led off the inning with a single to right field and moved to third base an at-bat later when a grounder by senior Conner Phifer was airmailed into center field on the attempt to start a double play.
With runners on the corners, Walker helped his cause in the next at-bat with an RBI bunt single down the first base line. Gause scored easily on the play and Walker was safe when no one covered first base.
Similarly in the next at-bat, junior Jake Veach connected on a bunt single with two strikes to load the bases. His drag down the first base line landed in no-man’s land and he hustled out the infield hit.
Douglas dug in next and gave the Raiders the lead for good when he barreled an RBI base hit on a line drive off starting pitcher Drew Stanfield (4 innings, 4 earned runs, 7 hits). Finding the outfield grass in right field, Douglas easily plated Phifer.
Waved home on the play was freshman courtesy runner Devin Haynes, running for Walker, but he was tagged out on a close play at the plate.
With one away and runners on first and second, senior Landon Taylor kept the inning going by putting the ball in play. His grounder to third base resulted in a fielder’s choice out, but the double play attempt by Lee County sailed down the first base line.
Douglas hustled in on the bad throw to make it 3-1 and Taylor moved all the way to third base. The head’s up base running paid off two at-bats later following a free pass to junior catcher Evan Hodges.
Senior courtesy runner Jeremiah Ritter took off for second base and finessed his way out of two separate run downs to allow Taylor to jet home and slide safely under the tag attempt to complete the double steal and make it 4-1.
A two-out RBI double by Lee County in the top of the third inning resulted in the game’s final run. Richmond’s defense also saved a run for the third out of the inning, as a 7-5-2 relay from Taylor, Douglas and Hodges nabbed Landon Miles trying to score.
Walker faced just four batters in the fourth inning to preserve the lead. In his first inning of relief, Hill sat Lee County down in order on 11 pitches with a K and two groundouts to junior Caden Nolan at short, who completed a pair of athletic throws for both outs.
In the top of the sixth, Hill walked two batters with one out. He got out of the jam by getting a strikeout swinging and a lazy fly ball to Veach in center.
Richmond left a base runner on in both the fourth inning (Hodges double) and fifth inning (Hill single), and stranded a pair of potential insurance runs in the sixth inning. Reaching safely in the sixth were Douglas and Hodges (both via a walk).
Locked in, Hill retired Lee County in order for the second time in three innings in the seventh to keep Richmond in the tournament. The Yellow Jackets went quietly on a pop out to Nolan at short, a strikeout and a 4-3 put out from Gause to Phifer to end it.
With the loss, Lee County’s overall record fell to 13-13 on the season.
The No. 2 Raiders (15-9) will go for the tournament championship Thursday on the road at No. 1 Pinecrest High School (18-7), which defeated No. 3 Southern Lee High School 8-1 Tuesday.
In what will be the third meeting between the two teams this season, Richmond will try to pick up its first win against the Patriots. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
