ROCKINGHAM — When it mattered most Saturday, small ball played a big role for the Richmond Senior High School baseball team.
Less than 24 hours after a tough one-run loss, the Raiders and head coach Eric Brown dug deep to tame the Myers Park Mustangs and complete a comeback win.
Erasing a five-run deficit en route to a win for the second time this season, Richmond walked it off in nine innings 6-5 over the Mustangs.
Part of the Raiders’ rally was a five-run bottom of the third inning to knot the game, which was paired by a strong relief pitching performance from junior righty Evan Hodges.
In the bottom of the ninth, Richmond used two singles, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch to end the game.
Following starting pitcher Collin Hill’s 2.2 innings, Hodges entered the game and threw 6.1 innings of work. Dialed in, Hodges kept Myers Park scoreless and allowed just two hits and three walks.
Relying on his defense behind him, Hodges stranded five base runners and recorded two strikeouts, 11 fly outs and four ground outs.
Hill made his second start of the season and allowed five earned runs on four hits. Myers Park took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly.
A 1-2-3 top of the second from Hill was followed by the Mustangs’ final three runs in the top of the third. A two-RBI double made it 4-0 and resulted in Hodges entering the game.
With a runner on third and one out, Hodges allowed an RBI single before settling in and recording the final two outs.
After Richmond’s bats were retired in order through the first two innings, the Raiders got their first base runner of the game to leadoff their five-run third inning thanks to a base-on-balls to senior Jabari Douglas.
Sophomore Drew Gause barreled a double to the gap in the next at-bat to move himself and senior courtesy runner Jeremiah Ritter into scoring position. Back-to-back RBI singles through the right side of the infield by junior Jake Veach and senior Landon Taylor got Richmond on the board and cut its deficit to 5-2.
Veach scored on a passed ball and Hodges helped his cause with a line drive RBI base knock into right field to score Taylor to make it a one-run game.
Richmond tied the score 5-5 when senior courtesy runner Conner Phifer (running for Hodges) advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw from the catcher that was followed by a throw into the Richmond dugout by the center fielder on the same sequence.
Hodges escaped a jam in the top of the fourth after the first two batters reached safely. He used a 1-5 fielder’s choice to get the lead runner for the first out and followed that with a strikeout and a lineout to Veach in center.
Veach recorded the third out an inning later by tracking down a fly ball on the warning track, again stranding a Mustang base runner.
Richmond had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but a 5-2-3 inning-ending double play thwarted its chance to score.
Hodges sat the Mustangs down in order in the sixth and seventh innings, and didn’t let a two-out double in the eighth inning do any damage. A one-out single in the top of the ninth was undone on a fly out and a pickoff by Hodges to Hill at first for the final out.
The Raiders’ bats were quiet through the later innings, but Douglas got the game-winning rally started with a leadoff single back up the middle to begin the bottom of the ninth.
Ritter, back in to run for Douglas, swiped second base. Resorting to small ball, Gause laid down a bunt attempt that resulted in a fielder’s choice single, his team-leading third hit of the game, when Myers Park threw to third base but Ritter chose not to advance.
Veach did his job in the next at-bat, putting down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Ritter and Gause to move up 90 feet into scoring position. With Taylor at the plate, he squared to bunt but a wild pitch sailed to the backstop and scored Ritter to walk it off.
Richmond had nine hits in the win, including three from Gause, one of which was a double. One of Taylor’s two hits went for two bases, while Hodges, Hill, Douglas and Veach all had a single.
The Raiders (3-3, 1-1 Sandhills Athletic Conference) have a crucial two-game series with Pinecrest High School (3-2, 0-0 SAC) next week. Game one will be played Tuesday at Pinecrest and start at 7 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo slideshow of Saturday’s win soon.
