HAW RIVER — Pitching and defense have described much of the success of Randleman’s baseball team.
The Tigers made it through more than one-third of the regular season with an undefeated record entering this week.
“I feel we can have a really special type of season,” first baseman Tate Andrews said. “Our pitching staff is real good. We’re showing glimpses of good offense.”
Randleman’s record reached 9-0 with its sixth consecutive shutout Friday.
“Definitely defense,” shortstop / pitcher Jake Riddle said of the team’s strengths. “It’s a lot easier for our pitchers just to go up there and feel free to throw strikes and not try to be perfect with everything and just get guys out because the defense is good behind them.”
It’s normal for the Tigers to look like a powerhouse team. They won state championships in 2021 and 2022 and followed those with conference titles the next three years.
Conference realignment has brought a different group of league rivals, but Randleman has been rolling nonetheless.
“We’ve still got some guys and some senior leaders,” coach Jake Smith said. “The pitching and defense have been solid.”
Riddle and outfielder / pitcher John Kirkpatrick have been regulars in Randleman lineups for four seasons.
“That’s the goal every year, to have a special season, a special team,” Kirkpatrick said. “Every team is different. You got different camaraderie, different mix of older guys and younger guys, different leadership, but I feel this year we have a great group. We’ve got the talent to be very special.”
In last Thursday night’s 2-0 victory at Southeast Alamance, Kirkpatrick struck out seven with two walks. Riddle fanned five batters in the combined four-hitter.
It was Kirkpatrick’s second pitching appearance of the season.
“It felt good to start hitting my spots,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of arms, a bunch of guys we’ve got trust in.”
Randleman’s first run came on Gavin Vanover’s sacrifice fly in the second inning. Jackson Hill’s two-out, two-strike single in the seventh inning drove in the Tigers’ other run.
In the third inning, the Stallions put runners on second and third with one out after Tyler Jackson’s double. Kirkpatrick struck out the next batter before a groundout ended the threat.
Kirkpatrick and Riddle don’t have to carry the load on the mound.
“We have a few guys behind them who can get it done,” Smith said.
Kyle Dillow and Easton Campbell combined for a three-inning shutout in a 24-0 lashing of visiting Lexington to end last week.
Aside from pitching, there’s versatility on the roster. Ashton Poe moves to shortstop from third base when Riddle is pitching.
The Tigers have options at catcher with returning starter Lincoln Lawson and freshman Titan Burgess both spending time behind the plate.
“We want to keep them fresh,” Smith said. “We knew when (Burgess) was in middle school he was going to have a chance to play and he has opened some eyes.”
Smith harps on the batters to maintain the right approaches even when some scores have become one-sided.
“It comes and goes in waves,” he said of the offense. “We need to stay with our plan.”
Riddle once was one of the younger players with talent on veteran teams. Now he’s perhaps the most established of the upperclassmen.
“I think we all know this could be another year that we go deep,” Riddle said. “Some of the new guys, first couple of weeks might have been tough on them. But they really bought in and they’re doing good.”
Kirkpatrick, a starting quarterback on the football team for multiple seasons, said it’s important to maintain the lofty status of the baseball program.
“I would say it’s just the standard that Coach Smith has set while he has been here coaching,” Kirkpatrick said. “Every team we have we have the expectation to be great and we just keep pushing toward those goals.”
