RAMSEUR — Austin Wells scattered five hits in going the distance on the mound while the Randolph Lumberkings took advantage of timely hits and six Deep River errors to claim an 11-1 Old North State League victory in seven innings Tuesday night at I. Fletcher Craven Stadium.
The run-rule triumph lifted Randolph to 3-0 in the league standings, while the Muddogs fell to 0-2.
Gaining the win in his first outing of the season, Wells surrendered one earned run, walked two and fanned three while throwing 106 pitches, including 63 (59 percent) for strikes.
“Austin pitched extremely well tonight, giving us a complete-game effort while doing a good job going after batters,” explained Lumberkings’ coach Brandon Nelson.
“As a team we’re playing relaxed and having fun while swinging the bat well and executing in the field. The big home run in the second got us going this evening before we were able to capitalize on Deep River mistakes to pull away in the later innings.”
Nathan Cockman opened on the hill for the Muddogs and took the loss, hurling four innings of one-hit ball but giving up three runs (two earned) in addition to issuing one free pass and striking out four.
Relievers Warren Gay, Austin Johnson and Isaiah Ortega threw the last three-plus innings and yielded a collective seven hits and eight runs (three earned) besides walking four.
“Nathan did a good job getting ahead of batters and gave us a chance to win, but the ball didn’t bounce our way in the late innings and we made some costly mistakes in the field,” noted Deep River coach Michael Milian.
“We also hurt ourselves at the plate by getting out of our game plan approaches.”
Randolph grabbed a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the second as Dusty Rogers was hit by a pitch with one away, stole second and went to third when Claytin Beaver reached on an infield error before Andre Macedo launched a first-pitch offering from Cockman over the left field fence for his first homer of the season.
The Muddogs narrowed the margin to 3-1 in the top of the fifth when Clay Richardson led off the frame by blasting a 2-0 pitch from Wells over the fence in left for his initial home run of the year.
But the Lumberkings answered with a solo run in their half of the inning as Justin Wernoski raced all the way to second on a one-out throwing error, moved to third on a groundout and scored when Kyle Ehlers notched a base hit up the middle.
Randolph stretched its lead to 8-1 in the home portion of the sixth as Macedo coaxed a full-count walk with one away and came in to score when Jacob Thomas belted a double up the alley in left-center.
Thomas then stole third and tallied when Wernoski reached on a throwing error. After Nate Vargo’s infield hit advanced Wernoski to second, courtesy runner Justin St. Amour stole third and dashed home on a wild pitch that allowed Vargo to move to second.
The latter then went to third on a groundout and came home when Cyrus Grimes smashed a double down the right field line.
The Lumberkings proceeded to put the contest away by tallying three runs in the bottom of the seventh as Rogers led off the inning by sprinting all the way to second on an infield miscue.
After Rogers advanced to third on a passed ball and continued home on a throwing error, walks to Beaver and Thomas, sandwiched around Macedo being hit by a pitch, loaded the bases.
St. Amour and Vargo then delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles to drive in the last two runs and account for the final spread.