By Jeff Moeller, sports correspondent

At this point of the season, Richmond Hill is being again reminded how baseball can be a long season filled with peaks and valleys. 

The Wildcats began region play by hosting Lowndes Tuesday, but it wasn’t their ideal situation. Instead, it has become a matter of them playing to their potential.

Richmond Hill started the week in the midst of a four game losing streak that began with a 5-0 loss to Trinity Christian Academy Feb. 21. 

That followed with a 6-5 loss to Benedictine, a 13-9 shootout defeat to Greenbrier, and a 5-3 defeat to Coffee.

Prior to that, the Wildcats had won five of their last six games after an opening 3-2 defeat to Wayne County. 

Head coach Hill Thomas saw a sudden change of pace with his club.

We hit a roadblock this past week,” noted Thomas. “We had a hard time scoring runs with two outs. We left a lot of runs out there, going  0-3 on the week. Each game felt similar with us controlling every inning but one that would eventually cost us the game.”

Thomas will look to give his team a reset.  

“Going into this week we start region,” he added.  I’d like to see our toughness show back up. Our record resets to 0-0 starting Tuesday and now all the games matter.”

Seniors Noah Stone and Landon Walker will anchor the Wildcats’ pitching staff and fellow senior Grant Wagner has provided some early op with his bat. And seniors Bryce Smith and Joey Succi, along with freshman Gage Witham have also become steady contributors.

“Bryce Smith, Noah Stone, Joey Succi, and Gage Witham are all starting to piece it together,” said Thomas. “Grant Wagner is hitting home runs, but we need to see some more production from him.”

 And Thomas has seen some production, but it hasn’t matched his expectations. 

“We have some guys swinging it well,” said Thomas. “But right now, we aren’t executing to our standard on offense in pressured situations. It’s hard to win that way.”

The Wildcats have been impressive with their other in-house outlets. Their JV team began the week with a 7-1 mark, and the ninth-grade team was 3-1.

“We expected both of them to do well, especially with the pitching depth on both sub-varsity teams,” said Thomas. “There are still plenty of areas to grow, but they are both playing complementary ball right now.”

Richmond Hill finished 17-14 overall last season, but Thomas remains confident his club can take the next step. Getting a good start in region play can be a jump starter. After hosting Lowndes, they will travel there for a doubleheader Friday with both games counting as region ones.

“We have it in us,” stressed Thomas. “ But it’s time some guys step up in challenging spots throughout the game. We’re excited to see how the team responds this week.”