Oxford, AL – Oxford’s Richardson has strong outing as Oxford beats Alexandria. Alexandria rebounds for comeback, walk-off win against Riverdale. Parker pitches Jacksonville past Donoho.
By Joe Medley
The thing about a tough outing in baseball is, there’s always another outing.
Oxford’s Nick Richardson rebounded in a big way Thursday, allowing one hit through three innings as the Yellow Jackets won the rematch of a classic Calhoun County championship game with Alexandria 7-0 during Spring Experience action at Choccolocco Park.
Richardson struck out one batter and, maybe more importantly, walked just one. He walked four in 1 1/3 innings of relief in Oxford’s 3-2 win over Alexandria in their 11-inning gem on March 7.
“I just wanted to pound the zone today,” Richardson said. “I didn’t do that last time, and I had to do it this time.
“We put runs on the board, so it helped me very much.”
Oxford scored all of its runs in the first two innings, including a five-run second inning. The Yellow Jackets (13-6) have won four games in a row and scored 51 runs in those games.
Tide Gann went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs. Richardson helped his pitching cause with his bat and fast feet, going 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.
Richardson stepped into a bigger pitching role this season as Oxford has looked to replace graduated standouts Peyton Watts and Hayes Harrison, the reigning Alabama Mr. Baseball and Gatorade Player of the year for 2023.
Oxford also misses pitcher Eli Bozeman, who hasn’t played and likely won’t play this season because of a back injury.
First-year Oxford coach Travis Janssen said Richardson rebounded nicely against Alexandria on Thursday.
“It felt like just a struggle, the first go round, and today, he was throwing a little changeup that he’s been working on,” Janssen said. “That was good to see, and he just pitched loose. It just didn’t feel like there was much tension with anything he was doing.”
As for Alexandria, Arkansas State signee Andrew Allen made his first mound appearance in five weeks since he under went surgery for a knee injury. The pitcher who took a no-hitter into the final at bat of the 2022 county-championship game against Oxford struggled Thursday, allowing six hits and seven earned runs in two innings.
Alexandria coach Zac Welch said Allen is working his way back into trim after downtime. Allen’s first outing back came against the defending Class 6A champion.
“It was really good to see Andrew throwing, and I think our guys are excited to see him back,” Welch said. “In the big scheme of things, if this was the big leagues, he wouldn’t thrown that game against the Tampa Yankees in Sarasota, Fla., and nobody would’ve been watching.
“We wouldn’t have ran him out to the mound against one of the best teams in the state. … It would’ve been nice to had a rehab start.”
Bray Goode pitched four scoreless innings of relief, allowing three hits with a strikeout and no walks.
“We’re excited about him,” Welch said. “He’s a big, tall left-hander who’s got good stuff, and he just continues to get better.”
JACKSONVILLE 4, DONOHO 0: Jacksonville’s Matthew Parker allowed three hits with one strikeout in 6 1/3 innings, and freshman Jackson Askew got the final two outs in three pitches for the save in his first varsity appearance.
Parker worked 85 pitches, “the longest I’ve gone in a couple of years,” he said.
“I kind of started off rough, first off, then got through it with help from my teammates,” Parker said. “I just went and threw strikes, and I had my defense behind me.
As for Askew, he learned Tuesday that he would move up from junior varsity. Jacksonville coach Jamison Edwards gave him the call up, knowing the Golden Eagles would play nine games from Saturday to Saturday, over spring break.
“As I got to looking at it on Monday, we’d played a doubleheader on Saturday,” Edwards said. “We finished it on Monday, and we had a guy go all seven (innings) on Monday, which is a huge help, but I got a little bit nervous looking at the rest of the week.
“Jackson Askew has been really good for us on the JV mound, so we felt like we needed one extra arm. We asked him to come with us today, and he did a fantastic job, just coming in and throwing strikes and getting outs.”
Askew called taking the mound for his first varsity appearance “great.”
“I was nervous, but it was great,” he said.
At the plate, John Ducar singled and had an RBI, and Ryan Mitchell had an RBI as Jacksonville improved to 9-9.
Donoho’s Blake Sewell allowed four hits and two earned runs while striking out three batters over six innings.
The Falcons (5-7) got a single apiece from Kai Cleckler, Sam Montgomery and Cash Worley.
“I think our effort today, offensively, was anemic,” Donoho coach Steve Gendron said. “I think we had 10 or 12 routine fly-ball outs.
“That’s been our problem this year. We struggle offensively, and if we don’t figure it out, it’s going to be a very short season.”
ALEXANDRIA 5, RIVERDALE (Tenn.) 4: Catcher Aiden Brunner worked through a 12-pitch at bat to draw a bases-loaded walk to walk it off in the eighth inning as Alexandria improved to 13-6.
Brunner’s marathon walk scored Ty Brown, who singled, took second base on a sacrifice bunt and error and beat a throw to take third base on another sacrifice.
Alexandria mounted a four-run rally with two outs to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Alexandria’s Tripp Patterson worked five innings, allowing seven hits with three earned runs and no walks. He struck out two batters.
Samuel Henegar pitched three perfect innings of relief with four strikeouts.
Brunner finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Nic Thompson hit a double with two RBIs.
Evan Snow had a single, a run and an RBI, and Eli Barnes doubled and scored a run.
RIVERDALE (Tenn.) 7, JACKSONVILLE 3: Gavin Peeler had two of Jacksonville’s three hits, including a double, plus an RBI. Matthew Salmon went 1-for-2 with a single.
Askew made his second appearance of the day and second varsity appearance, pitching 1 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed one hit and one walk with one strikeout.
Photo Gallery
In a rematch of this season’s classic Calhoun County final, Oxford takes on Alexandria in Thursday’s Spring Experience action at Choccolocco Park.
Photos by Joe Medley
Photos by Joe Medley
