CHARLOTTE — For the first time this season, the Richmond Senior High School baseball team lost back-to-back games Saturday.
Trying to recover from their loss Friday to Overhills High School, the Raiders took a break from conference action and traveled to Myers Park High School.
Facing the Mustangs, who are ranked as MaxPreps’ No. 7 team in the state in all classifications, Richmond battled till the final inning but came up a couple runs short.
Myers Park squeaked out a 4-2 win over the Raiders.
Richmond scored solo runs in both the third and fourth frames. The first run cut into a 3-0 deficit, and the team’s second run made it a one-run game.
The Mustangs (21-3) added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth.
A strong outing from senior pitcher Maddox Locklear resulted in a complete-game effort from the right-hander. In his six innings of work, he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and struck out three batters.
A slow start defensively in the first for Richmond saw an error to the leadoff batter later score on a sacrifice fly.
Myers Park scored two runs in the bottom of the second. Both runs scored on a two-out base hit.
Leading off the top of the third inning, senior Jake Veach got the Raiders on the board with his first career home run. On a 2-2 offering, Veach connected for a solo blast over the wall in left field.
Locklear found his rhythm in the home half with a 1-2-3 inning, which allowed Richmond to pull within a run in the top of the fourth.
Sophomore Devin Haynes (one-out single), along with freshmen Julius Bowden (hit-by-pitch) and Nate Culbreth (walk) loaded the bases with two away. A wild pitch to the backstop allowed Haynes to score and make it 3-2.
The Raiders left two runners in scoring position following a strikeout to end the inning, two of their eight total runners stranded on base in the game. Five of those runners were on second or third base.
A hit-by-pitch and a two-out base hit combined for Myers Park’s final run in the fourth.
One-out singles by seniors Caden Nolan and Evan Hodges in the top of the fifth saw both runners move into scoring position. But consecutive strikeouts left them stranded.
Culbreth was the final runner left on base when he drew a walk in the sixth. Richmond went down in order in the seventh.
In addition to Veach’s homer, Richmond had five other hits, all singles. They came courtesy of Nolan, Hodges, Locklear, Haynes and Bowden.
The final week of the regular season will see the Raiders (16-6, 11-2 MSC) have a chance to claim their first regular-season conference championship since 2015.
In order to do that, they’ll need to defeat current Mid-South Conference leader Pinecrest High School (18-5, 12-1 MSC) twice.
Richmond will travel to Pinecrest Tuesday and host the Patriots Friday for senior night. Both games are set for 7 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Richmond’s junior varsity baseball team, which was scheduled to play Myers Park Saturday, had its game canceled.
