Bombers Kick Off Baseball Season in Jamboree - By Owen Jackson
Bombers Kick Off Baseball Season in Jamboree On Wednesday, March 6th, the Bomber's Baseball program hosted their annual Mid Columbia Conference Jamboree, where they matched up against the Chiawana Riverhawks and their cross-town rivals, the Hanford Falcons. With the team looking for a deep-state run this season, they needed to start the preseason strongly. The Bombers matched up against the Riverhawks in their first game of the day at 1pm. Richland came out on top, beating Chiawana 6-4. Later that evening, the Bombers took on Hanford in a cross-town rivalry matchup at 6pm. The Bomb Squad would ultimately come out on top, winning the evening game in a defensive battle, 2-1. The stands were fairly empty due to the poor weather on the day; low temperatures and high winds made for unfavorable playing conditions for all the teams involved.
Up-and-coming sophomore Michael Revell started as a pitcher against the Riverhawks before being replaced by Drew Schock in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd inning, returning senior Rayce Reeves finished the game for the varsity squad. The junior varsity team finished the game, pitching sophomores Braylon Edwards and Will Hammond, with Freshman Jackson Woodard closing the game for Richland and keeping Chiawana to only four runs. The offense for the Bombers managed to drive in six runs, just edging past the Riverhawks. Big performances from New Mexico State commit Chris Daniels and Kentucky Christian University commit Rayce Reeves helped the offense and helped the program earn its first win.
Later that evening, Richland faced off against the Hanford Falcons in a cold, windy, defensive battle. Coming into this game, the Bombers hadn't lost to the Falcons since 2019. While Richland looked to extend the streak, the Falcons were eager to break the losing trend. New Mexico State commit Chris Daniels started as pitcher, keeping the score 0-0 in the first inning. In the second inning, junior Carter Upmeyer took over for Daniels on the mound, followed by senior Bradley Beck. After this, sophomores Hayden Galloway, Ethan Ingle, and Johnny Soto closed the game. The Bomber's defense put on a masterclass display, only letting the one run through six innings. On the other side of the game, a motivated Falcons team looked to break the losing streak, and they also had tremendous defense on the night. The Falcons would hold the electric Bombers offense to only two runs on the night. The Bombers come out of a tight matchup with a win and a lot of momentum heading into the year.
The Bombers are eager to go on a massive state-run this season and believe they can do it. John Simons had this to say about being back playing baseball again and an outlook on the season ahead, "Being back playing Richland baseball is more than exciting for me. I get to be with my brothers playing the game I've been playing since I was 6. This jamboree was like any other: cold and windy. But I am excited to see what our guys can do this year. We have six returning starters in the field with a couple of stud sophomores that will pick up where our graduated guys from last year left off. We've got more comradery this year than in past years. With this group's closeness and talent, we aim to make a big run in state this year. Our seniors have a taste of the big games, coming third in the state our sophomore year. We know what it takes and love to hang another banner on our outfield fence."
While winning these jamboree games is good, Coach Grant Richardson said about starting the season, "Winning them doesn't mean anything if we don't learn anything about who we are, where we are going, and what we need to do to get there. It's more about getting guys comfortable playing live and seeing players' attitudes toward the game. You can learn a lot about a player by how he approaches that first game, and the jamboree helps us see many things about that aspect. You want pitchers to attack the zone and hitters to attack fastballs that early in the season."
Despite significant losses due to graduations from last year, key players like Washington State commit Kooper Jones, and Saint Martins commit Charlie Johns, along with other significant losses like Jase Vopalensky and Drew Johnson, the bombers have lots of returning players with lots of experience. Major returns include Chris Daniels, John Simons, Rayce Reeves, John Corbin, Dallas Bennett, and Alec Ammerman, who will be a key part of this team's playoff run in hopes of bringing home a state title. After getting back into it and returning the diamond with two wins, the Bombers look to get some revenge in their matchup against Sumner, the team that knocked them out of the state tournament last year in the round of eight, on March 9th.
