One of the Richmond Hill baseball team’s goals this season was to host a state playoff series.
Thanks to Garrett Wright’s no-hitter and some timely hitting along with some help from Lowndes County those hopes remain alive following a 6-0 win Tuesday night over Region 1-7A rival Colquitt County at Wildcats Field.
In order to host the Wildcats (13-15, 5-5) find themselves in the position of having to sweep the Packers (12-13, 4-6) while region champion Lowndes in turn must sweep Valdosta. If those stars align Richmond Hill will finish second.
“That’s a big ask,” Richmond Hill Coach Hill Thomas said. “That’s a big ask for us, that’s a big ask for them (Lowndes). Most times you are focused on winning the series. Sweeps are few and far in between.”
Richmond Hill’s fate will be decided Friday night when it plays a doubleheader at Colquitt while Lowndes will be at Valdosta for a pair of games.
Hill said he will start junior lefthander Bryce Hendricks in the first game and come back with senior Hunter Legas in the nightcap.
Legas has pitched the opening game of each region series this season but Thomas decided to start the hard throwing Wright. The senior lefthander, who has signed with Augusta University, did not disappoint.
While Wright was doing his thing senior first baseman Ty Goldrick, moved up to second in the lineup, banged out a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Goldrick, who has signed to play quarterback at Erskine, had an RBI double in the first inning and singled to drive in a run in the fifth.
“Ty is our hottest hitter right now,” Thomas said. “I think he’s hitting around .500 in region play.
“We scored in every inning but the sixth and what I liked was a lot of the runs were manufactured. We did a good job with two outs in extending innings which has not been our M.O. this season. That was nice to see, especially in a ball game that means so much as far as where the season ends.”
Mason Wilcox walked to start the game and Goldrick followed with a double. The Wildcats made it 3-0 in the second with Wilcox singling to drive in a run after Tyler Fountain had scored on an error.
Runs scored in the third and fourth innings on Packers miscues and Goldrick’s two out single in the fifth scored Alex Harwood who had walked and moved to third on two wild pitches.
“We can’t look past Friday’s first game,” Thomas said. “To get second would be nice but we still have to win one more game if we want to be a three seed.”