RICHMOND HILL — After a shaky start which saw it drop its first two games of the season the Richmond Hill baseball team finds itself on a nine-game winning streak after beating Brunswick, 5-3, Monday night and 13-4 a day later.
The two victories were the opening games of Region 2-6A play for both teams who are scheduled to play Friday at Brunswick weather permitting. Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week.
The Wildcats (9-2, 2-0) trailed 2-0 after four innings in the opening game of the series as Brunswick (6-3, 0-2) jumped starter Hunter Legas (3-1) for a pair of runs in the second inning.
Richmond Hill broke through in the fifth as it scored three runs, two scoring on RBI singles by Leighton Finley and Evan Cowan. Finley scored what proved to be the winning run thanks to some shaky Pirates defense.
After adding runs in the sixth and seventh innings Leighton Finley relieved starter Hunter Legas (3-1) to snuff out a threat in the seventh. The Pirates had one run in and a runner on base with no out when Finley relieved and struck out the next three batters to clinch the win.
Legas also had a good night at the plate with three of the team’s eight hits. Finley also had a double. Ty Goldrick and Jalen Varnedoe had the other hits with Goldrick driving in a run in the sixth.
The second game at Wildcat Field was settled early as Richmond Hill scored four runs in the first, added three in the second and settled the issue with another four in the third for an 11-3 lead.
Senior righthander Luke Boone was the beneficiary of the Wildcats’ biggest offensive outburst of the season as he went the first four innings to pick up the win. Garrett Wright and Joe Gibson closed it out on a combined four-hitter.
Connor Truax, Finley and Cowan had two hits each to lead the Wildcats. Cowan drove in three runs and now has 13 RBI. Jalen Varnedoe also had a two-run single.
Richmond Hill picked up a trio of wins last week, all on the road, as it beat Ware County, 11-9, Islands, 8-0, and Greenbrier, 2-1.
The wins over Ware and Greenbrier came in the Wildcats last at bat. The Ware game was especially dramatic.
Despite making an unbelievable 13 errors, Richmond Hill beat the Gators by scoring five runs with two out in the top of the seventh. The Wildcats sent 11 batters to the plate with Ethan Fuller’s two-run single driving in what proved to be the winning run.
The win at Islands was error free and somewhat mundane as five pitchers combined on a two-hitter. Ryan Wiebold went 2.1 innings for the win and he was followed by Joe Gibson, Blayne Newman, Jalen Varnedoe and Cowan.
At Greenbrier the Wildcats closed out the week by pushing across a run in the seventh to snap a 1-1 tie. Finley (2-0) got the win with two scoreless innings of relief as he, Boone and Legas gave up only one hit.
“As strange as it may sound the Ware game will make us better defensively,” Coach Chris Jenkins said. “We checked the box for about every error you can make: fielding, throwing, catching, wild pitch, passed ball, but all of them occurred in the first four innings.”
“Once we quit pressing and just played ball, we were error free. Hopefully that will serve as a learning experience for us.”
Boone started and gave up seven runs in three innings, only one of which was earned. He was followed by Wiebold and Garrett Wright who went the final three innings allowing only one hit and an unearned run while striking out four.
“Our defense late in the game and Garrett’s pitching allowed us to chip away at their lead,” Jenkins said. “We feel pretty good about where we are heading into the region games. We still have areas that can be improved but we are very close to being a solid team in every aspect of the game.”