Richland County extended their losing streak to four on Thursday, dropping their season record down to 10-16 in the process. They came up short against the Salem Wildcats, falling 13-5. If the Tigers were looking for revenge after losing 3-2 to the Wildcats when the teams met back in May of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.
Gavin Root made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one double. Cooper Hires was another key player, going 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
As for Salem, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 15-13. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of three runs across that stretch.
On Salem's side, Carter Lowe was a major factor no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run over 5.1 innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave Lowe a new career-high in strikeouts (four). He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one double.
In other batting news, Rhett Detering and Noah Nix did most of the damage at the plate: Detering went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI, while Nix went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. Those two stolen bases gave Nix a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Cody Beard, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Richland County and Salem could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings. The Tigers will square off against Marion at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with a big rank disadvantage (304 vs. 82). Meanwhile, Salem (ranked 152nd) will meet Highland (ranked 37th) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
