ROCKINGHAM — Eric Brown wanted to see Tuesday how the Richmond Senior High School baseball team would respond to its slow start in conference play.
The Raiders’ head coach got what he was looking for as Richmond reentered the win column on its home field.
Hosting Hoke County High School, the Raiders muscled out a 1-0 win to snap a two-game slide and a three-game losing streak against Sandhills Athletic Conference opponents.
Relying on the arm of senior pitcher Jason Walker and the bat of junior shortstop Caden Nolan, Richmond was able to keep the Bucks winless in conference play.
Walker threw a gem and picked up his second win against an SAC team this spring. He went the distance with a two-hit complete game dandy on just 79 pitches.
Striking out eight batters, Walker was also efficient in his seven innings of work. Aside from the third and seventh frames, Walker faced just three batters in each inning.
With the tying run at second base and no outs in the seventh, Walker dialed in and struck out the side on the next three batters to preserve the win.
Richmond’s defense was also crucial in the victory, which committed just one error. Junior catcher Evan Hodges nabbed a base runner trying to steal second to end the first inning and the Raiders turned an inning-ending fielder’s choice double play to eliminate a threat in the third.
Nolan recorded the game’s only run when he hit a leadoff solo homer to start the bottom of the second inning off starting pitcher Carson Hewitt (6 innings, 3 hits, 4 strikeouts).
Teeing up the first offering from Hewitt, Nolan sent his first longball of the season over the wall in left field which landed on top of the Raiders’ indoor hitting facility.
Adding one base hit apiece for Richmond were senior Riley Brown and freshman Devin Haynes. Coach Brown added that he was pleased with the Raiders putting the ball in play and cutting down on the number of strikeouts at the plate.
Hoke County (1-8, 0-5 SAC) had hits from Jayden Hollingsworth and Rylan Hunt, both singles.
The Raiders (4-5, 2-3 SAC) travel to non-conference Montgomery Central High School (5-2) Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Sports editor’s note: Statistics and game information provided by Richmond’s Game Changer.
