WINNSBORO – The Richard Winn Baseball regular season opener is now less than a week away, and on Tuesday night the Eagles took some time to sharpen their skills against the Keenan Raiders at the Griffin Invitational Preseason Tournament. Keenan found a bit of early success, but the Eagles were too much and ran away with a 9-1 win in four innings.
Peyton Gilbert (11) deals some heat. | DeAnna Robinson
The Raiders’ first batter of the game, Jarvis Da’Sant reached base on a six-pitch walk. Then, a fielding error at third base allowed Da’Sant to make it home and cost Richard Winn the only run they surrendered on the night.
Keenan’s sub-par pitching performance allowed the Eagles to make a quick comeback in the second inning. Peyton Gilbert began the night for Richard Winn with a single, and then the wheels came off for Keenan’s sophomore pitcher Makai Adkins.
After Gilbert’s lead-off single, Adkins walked four out of the next five batters, and that, coupled with a series of wild pitches, allowed Richard Winn to put up a five-run first inning. Gilbert struck again in the second inning with his second single of the night.
Immediately after Gilbert’s second-inning single, Brandon Miller was hit by a pitch. That opened the door for a two-RBI base hit off of the bat of Luke Martin. Martin was tagged out going for second, but Zack Taylor stroked a double in the next at bat.
Ethan McManus was walked after Taylor’s double, and, for the second time in the inning, RWA slapped a two-RBI single, except this time it was Cameron Bass doing the damage.
Hudson Wade came on in the top half of the fourth inning to close things out on the mound. He protected Richard Winn’s 9-1 lead with ease and collected the final three innings of the game by strike out.
Richard’s Winn regular season opener is at Wardlaw on Mar.6.
RWA:5-4-0-X- 9
KHS:1-0-0-0- 1
Pitching: RWA– Peyton Gilbert (W) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 1BB, 5K. Dru Caldwell 1 IP, 1H. Hudson Wade 1IP, 1H, 1HB, 3K. KHS– Makai Adams (L), 1.2IP, 4H, 9R, 4ER, 3BB, 2HB, 2K. Amari Young – 1.2IP, 2H, 1K
Hitting: 1B- Peyton Gilbert (2), Luke Martin, Cameron Bass. (RWA); S.O’Neal, C.Burton, A.Benjamin. (KHS). 2B – Zack Taylor (RWA).
