RICHLANDS — With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and trailing 10-9, Richlands needed just a single hit to tie or even win the game on April 10, but East Duplin’s Baines Raynor came through for his team and forced a groundout to end the game.
Heading into the game, both teams were struggling and in need of a win as East Duplin had lost five of their last six games, and Richlands had lost seven of their last eight.
It was East Duplin who scored first though in the top of the second inning when Halen Watkins, who opened up the inning with a double, came home to score as a result of a throwing error by Marlon Machado Dorta on a groundball hit by Kolby Hinson.
In the top of the third inning with the bases loaded and no outs, the Panthers scored again to take a 2-0 lead when Sawyer Marshburn hit a hard ball that could have resulted in multiple runs scoring, but thanks to a diving stop by Machado Dorta, who made up for the error in the second inning, only resulted in a RBI single.
The next batter up for the Panthers with the bases still loaded was Cain Graham who appeared to fly out to center fielder Chris Pyles who dropped the ball, and East Duplin’s Raynor came home to score from third to give his team a 3-0 lead. Luckily for Pyles though, he was still able to earn an out on the play as East Duplin’s Jesus Mojica thought the outfielder caught the ball, and he retreated back to first only to be thrown out by Pyles who made an excellent throw to second base for the out.
Richlands then committed yet another error when catcher Braeden Costello tried to throw out Austin Rouse, who was trying to steal second base, but instead overthrew the ball into the outfield allowing East Duplin’s Gavin Holmes to come home and score from third.
East Duplin then scored their final running of the third inning to take a 5-0 lead when batter Kolby Hinson ground into a fielder’s choice which resulted in Halen Watkins being thrown at second but allowed Rouse to come home and score.
The Panthers would go on to take a 7-0 lead the very next inning when Gavin Holmes hit a 2-RBI single to score Brown and Raynor. Even trailing by seven runs though the Wildcats never gave up hope, and with bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Machado Dorta came home from third on a passed ball to score their first run of the game. Later during that same at-bat, Costello hit a 2-RBI double to score two more runs and cut the East Duplin lead to four runs at 7-3.
The Wildcats were not done yet in the inning though as the next two batters Pyles and Hayden Turner hit back-to-back RBI singles to cut the Panthers lead to 7-5. After a walk put Walker Smith on first base, both he and Turner then came home to score during the next at-bat when an error by East Duplin first baseman Cain Graham allowed both runners to score and tie the game up at 7-7. Later in the inning, Richlands had a chance to possibly take the lead when they once again loaded the bases, but they were unable to take advantage of the situation as Brady Jarman was picked off at first base to end the inning.
Even though East Duplin gave up seven runs with two outs in the previous inning, they didn’t seem to be overly discouraged; and when they came back out on offense in the top of the fifth inning, they reclaimed the lead at 8-7 when JP Murphy hit an RBI single with one to score Hinson from third.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Panthers then increased their lead 9-7 in the top of the seventh inning when, with the bases loaded and no outs, Raynor hit an RBI single to score Rouse from third. Later in the inning, the Panthers scored again when Murphy came to home to score from third on a wild pitch to give his team a 10-7 lead.
Once again with their backs against the wall, the Wildcats batters found a way to get on base, and batters Brady Jarman and Mason Rowe opened up the inning with back-to-back singles. Both batters were then able to move up a base after a groundout by Miguel Medina, and they moved up again with Jarman scoring when Costello hit an RBI groundout. Down 10-8 with two outs, Richlands continued to fight and Pyles and Turner then earned back-to-back walks to load the bases.
With the East Duplin coaching staff sensing that the inning was getting out of hand, they then went to the bullpen and brought in Raynor to replace Kyle Kern on the mound. When Raynor took the mound, he got off to a rough start when he threw a wild pitch against the first batter he faced which allowed Rowe to come home and score from third and cut the Panthers lead to one at 10-9. To get the force at any base, the East Duplin coaching staff then elected to walk Walker Smith to load the bases with two outs. With the game on the line, Raynor stepped up when his team needed him, and he forced Richlands batter Ashton Courdle to groundout to East Duplin shortstop Zach Brown to end the game.
East Duplin head coach Brandon Thigpen said, after the game, that he commended Richlands for continuing to fight, but he wants to see his guys do a better job of putting away leads in the future.
“I thought Richlands competed well. They didn’t lay down and quit. They had a big fourth inning and scored seven runs to tie it back up,” Thigpen said. “We just can’t get complacent when we get leads like that. We’ve just got to go ahead and shut the door and put them away.”
With the win, East Duplin improved to 8-9 overall this season, while Richlands fell to 2-13 with the loss.
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