Richlands falls big to Falcons

By MIKE DAVIS

WARDELL, Va. — The Abingdon Falcons hammered the center of the diamond for the better part of the first and second innings to build a 12-1-run lead to pin Richlands’ backs to the wall with their first Southwest District loss of the season.

Led by Zach Witt on the mound, Abingdon (5-1, 2-0) kept the Blues categorically off balance for the better part of the evening to eventually take a 13-3 district win.

“We came out and played well,” Abingdon head coach Mark Francisco said. “It’s was a good win against a good team.”

Luke Hilt led off the bottom of the first with a sharp single to left field to get the Falcons’ offense started. Richlands seemed to have the game well in hand at that point after Ethain Keene fanned the next two batters with strikeouts.

Then, the wheels came off for the Tornado when Abingdon scored their first run of the game after Witt helped his own cause at the plate with a deep shot to center for a single. The effort brought Hilt home from second base and the surge was on.

Kenny Pope took first after being hit by a pitch and Bobby Webb drew a walk to load the bases as the Blues struggled to find that last out.

Taylor Read came up, next in the Falcons’ order, and emptied the bases with a three RBI-double giving Abingdon a 4-0 lead. Read came home later in the frame along with Seth Kegley who would also make it home to account for the half dozen runs.

The first inning took over an hour to complete and the delay brought longer shadows to the infield as the sun began to hide behind the mountains.

“We had two outs (on Abingdon) and we lost focus,” said Richlands head coach Brad Strong. “Our pitchers struggled a little bit and we just didn’t hit the ball.”

The Tornado came to the box ready for the fight and had a positive start when Bradley Strong singled deep into left, stole second and went to third on a passed ball. The station-to-station baseball paid off with a Joel Elswick single to left which scored (Bradley Strong).

The Blues would stranded two more runners in the inning, however, getting them across the dish would not materialize as the Falcons hit their marks with precision defense.

Taylor Sizemore came to the mound for the Tornado relieving Keene, however, the defensive struggle continued in the second inning for Richlands after the first two Abingdon batters drew walks. Witt pushed another run across when a deep shot to center turned into an RBI-single to plate Abingdon’s lead-off batter.

Pope shook things up once again at the plate when he came around on a slow dribbler past the infield grass. The Tornado infield mishandled to throw and Pope made it aboard with an error.

Runs began to score in the meantime for the Falcons as the Tornado defense looked for answers and with just one out on the side, Abingdon had jumped out to a 12-1 lead.

The Richlands bench opted for another pitching change and Taylor McGee came to the hill and the Tornado defense began to show some spark as they got out of the inning without further damage.

The Tornado had a productive outing in the third frame and in most games would be considered formidable when Reece Strong and Eric Stiltner plated runs. However, the hole the Blues had dug themselves into in previous innings spelled their doom as the Falcons plated a run in the fourth and held on to bring the game to an end.

Read was 2-for-2 at the plate for Abingdon, scored three runs and had an RBI followed by Hilt, Witt and Pope who all went 2-for 3 at the plate. Witt had two RBIs and scored two runs and Pope scored twice and had an RBI. Bobby Webb also scored two runs.

“Right now we just don’t have a lot of character,” (Brad) Strong said. “We can’t come from behind right now, we’re not ready. You have to get some games and get some continuity, but that’s no excuse. These guys are better than that.”

“We got beat by a very good baseball club,” Strong added. “And we didn’t play very well.”

Richlands was led by Joel Elswick who went 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and (Bradley) Strong was 2-for-3.

Richlands next game is at Grundy on Tuesday followed by a showdown against the Bulldogs in Tazewell on Wednesday.

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