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Richmond’s Alex Dockery follows through on a swing Friday afternoon against Scotland. The Raiders won 14-1. For more photos visit www.yourdailyjournal.com.
The JV Raiders exploded for nine runs in the fourth inning and went on to cruise past Scotland 14-1 in five innings Friday afternoon at Raider Field. The victory allowed Richmond to record a season-sweep over its Mid-Southeastern Conference rival after defeating Scotland 5-3 on March 30.
The win also pushed the Raiders (17-3, 8-1) two games ahead of the Scots (14-3, 6-3) in the conference.
“Our guys knew the importance of this game, and they came out with the right mindset,” JV Raiders coach Kevin Wallace said. “With this victory, this pretty much puts us in the driver seat for the conference.”
Scotland led 1-0 after the first inning. Alex Peele drew a walk off Richmond’s starter Chandler Conner and later stole second. Conner uncorked two wild pitches which allowed Peele to score the first run of the game.
In the top of the second, the Scots threatened to increase their lead. Matt Radford singled to lead off and Conner hit Jujaun Coleman with a pitch, putting runners on first and second. Tim Chavis’ sacrifice bunt pushed the runners to second and third.
But Conner pitched out of the jam by striking out Josh Collins and coaxing Derek Barnes to pop up to first for the third out. Conner retired the next nine out of 10 batters he faced to record a one-hitter. He also finished with six strikeouts and issued one walk.
“In the first couple innings, I wasn’t locating the ball,” Conner said. “Coach (Wallace) helped settled me down. I started to throw my off-speed pitches for more strikes and stayed ahead in the count.”
In the bottom of the second, Richmond grabbed a 4-1 advantage. After one-out singles from Hunter King and Andrew Henderson, Conner drove in King to tie the game. Coleman dropped a fly ball in left field hit by Andy Shuler, which allowed Henderson and Conner to score to give the Raiders a 3-1 lead. Alex Dockery singled home Shuler, giving Richmond a three-run advantage.
The Raiders stretched the lead to 5-1 in the third, and erupted for nine runs in the fourth to take a 14-1 advantage. Scotland committed four its six errors in the inning with three accounting for three Richmond runs. Conner ripped a RBI double and Dockery drove in his second run of the game in the inning.
“They made some mistakes, but that’s what happens when you put the ball in play. We had a few hard hits and a few bounces that went our way. I thought we did a good job in the game of getting our bunts down and being aggressive on the bases. We got two games left and we want to finish the season out strong.”
n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com
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