Like the Richmond Raiders football team, the baseball team is hoping to finish its season by raising the state championship trophy.

The Richmond baseball program has won four state championships, with its last in 1983. The Raiders made it to the regional semifinals in 2007, but were knocked off in the second round by Leesville Road last year to finish with a 20-6 mark.

Interim Raider coach Jason Norton isn’t shy about putting the pressure on his team to end the 26-year drought.

“We aren’t here to just play 25 games and put on the uniform,” Norton said. “No, we’re here to win the state. If you’re here to just put on a Raider uniform then you don’t need to be here. We’ve got a rich tradition here, and we’ve talked about it. We definitely want to put a ring on our finger.”

Richmond must first battle its way through the Mid-Southeastern Conference, where the Raiders posted a 13-1 league mark last year to share the conference title with Pinecrest. It was the second straight MSEC championship for Richmond.

The players understand the quest to three-peat is a challenge and don’t want to see the streak end in the MSEC’s final year.

“It would great to go out with a bang, follow what the prior two teams did and win it for the third consecutive year,” senior catcher Aaron Snead said. “We’ve got a pretty solid team, but it will depend on how well we hold up defensively.”

According to Norton, the Raiders had trouble fielding the ball in its scrimmage last Saturday in Charlotte, but believes those problems have been corrected.

“We kicked it around too much,” Norton said. “I can’t put a number on how many errors we had, but it was pretty high. If we play that type of defense in this conference, we won’t win too many games.

“This week in practice we harped on fielding ground balls and trying to clean some things up. The kids have responded by having a good week of practice. We’re going to hang our hats on defense and pitching to win games just like in the past.”

Norton added he may use up to six pitchers in the rotation, but feels the ace of the staff will be junior right-hander Ricky Holden. Norton describes Holden as an extremely competitive person, who could develop into a big-game pitcher.

Holden said the coaching staff is working with him to add more to his arsenal.

“In the past I relied mostly on throwing fastballs, but they’ve worked with me a lot at throwing changeups that will help me a lot on the varsity level,” Holden said. “The thing I have to do more consistently is throw more strikes and throw more accurately. I sometimes tend to get a little out of control, but I know, I’ve got to stay within myself.”

Even though it’s his first year at guiding the Raiders, Norton said he will continue the aggressive baserunning of former coach David Lee. Norton added while the defense needed some work after last week’s scrimmage, the offense was in mid-season form.

“We aren’t going to hit a lot of home runs, and we don’t have a big bopper in our lineup,” Norton said. “We’ve got skinny, small kids and not big burly kids. We’re going to bunt, scrap, move runners around the base and try to get timely hits. What I’m been impressed with this group since we started practice is we don’t strikeout a lot and this group does put the ball in play.”

The Raiders lost seven players from the 2008 team, including four all-conference selections, including co-conference player of the year Corey Ayers.

Richmond has just seven returning players, all seniors. Norton is looking for them to provide leadership like last year’s group did following a 4-0 loss to Pinecrest. The defeat dropped Richmond to 3-4 overall, before the team went on to reel off 16 straight games.

“Last year, we had vocal guys like Corey and Will Shuler, and I’m looking for more guys to speak up,” Norton said. “There are guys starting to do it, but we’re going to need a little more leadership out there. I don’t see us blowing out a lot of teams out. We’re going to need guys to make plays in key situations in the field and at the plate.”

Norton understands this is his chances to show the school he has what it takes to take off the interim tag.

“I’ve just got to coach this team to the best of my ability, and rely on my staff because I believe you’re only as good as the people working with you,” Norton said. “I’m going try to make good decisions, and sometimes things aren’t going to go in your favor. If things work out then good, if don’t, then so be it. I love the opportunity, I’m not going to ask any favors and I want to earn this job.”

Richmond has a scrimmage with Sun Valley and Albemarle scheduled for today at noon. The Raiders open the regular season at North Stanley on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

JV Raiders set goals high

The Richmond junior varsity baseball team has a new coach in the dugout who has high expectations for his squad.

Kevin Wallace is in charge of the JV team after coaching at Hamlet Middle School for four years. Wallace served as an assistant on Richmond’s summer league baseball team.

“I think we’ve got a real good team with the combination of players off Rockingham and Hamlet teams last year,” Wallace said. “I think it’s a good chance we can win every game this year.”

The JV Raiders open against Butler at home next Saturday at noon.

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com