LUMBERTON — Traditionally, a no-hitter in baseball comes with a bit of fanfare, but for the Lumberton baseball team, Justice Sampson’s accomplishment Friday night was on the bittersweet side.

Without allowing a hit or an error, the Pirates lost 2-0 to Richmond in a Southeastern Conference matchup.

“I’ve never lost a game where my pitcher threw a no-hitter before,” Lumberton coach Paul Hodges said.

The pitching matchup between Sampson and Nic Bullard limited both teams’ offenses. Lumberton had three hits and had runners reach on two errors. Richmond was limited to six walks. But on two of those walks, leadoff hitter Drew Butler used his speed to his advantage.

He first reached in the game’s opening at-bat, then again in the fifth inning. In both cases, he quickly got to third, then scored on infield ground balls by Bradley Brown.

“We’re pretty aggressive on the bases, so when we got opportunities to get people on, we were able to get people over and get them in,” Richmond coach Ricky Young said. “I’m glad we were able to execute when we got people on base.”

Brown’s second infield grounder was as close as Richmond came to a hit. He reached reached base on the play, but it was ruled a fielder’s choice when the second baseman tried for the out home, which kept Sampson’s no-hitter in tact.

Otherwise, Sampson kept the Raiders at bay, limiting them to flies in the outfield or easy grounders. He finished with nine strikeouts. Bullard started the game relatively shaky before finding his stride in the middle innings. Lumberton’s first two hitters reached on errors, putting a runner in scoring position with no outs.

The defense rebounded with three quick outs to end the inning. The Pirates got the game’s first hit in the third inning but didn’t get a runner back into scoring position until the sixth inning.

“We had (Bullard) on the rocks early, but then he got hot in those middle innings,” Hodges said, noting that Bullard had six strikeouts in the nine outs during the three-inning stretch. “We let him get on a roll.”

Bullard finished with 10 strikeouts and Sampson had nine.

Swett wins in final at-bat

PEMBROKE — Purnell Swett baseball beat Pinecrest 5-4 Friday, winning on a walk with the bases loaded.

The Rams trailed 4-2 entering the seventh but were able to load the bases, eventually tying it before Christian Locklear drew the game-winning base on balls.

Ironeyes Locklear got the win for the Rams.

South Robeson beats St. Pauls

ST.PAULS — South Robeson baseball took advantage of five hits and three errors in a 7-1 win at St. Pauls.

The Mustangs went ahead 3-0 in the first inning and never lost the lead, allowing one run in the bottom of the first and another in the fourth. Tim Carter went 1-for-3 with a home run and also got the win on the mound for South Robeson.

Jhamel Leonard led St. Pauls with a triple in a 1-for-3 day at the plate.

Red Springs 11, East Columbus 4

LAKE WACCAMAW — Red Springs baseball had another late-inning win, beating East Columbus 11-3.

The Red Devils scored seven runs in the top of the seventh inning to break the game opening. Malik Johnson led Red Springs, going 4-for-5 with a double.

Fairmont softball 14, West Columbus 0

FAIRMONT — Katelon Floyd pitched a three-hit shutout in Fairmont’s 14-0 win over West Columbus.

The Golden Tornadoes racked up 14 hits in the five-inning game, including a 3-for-3 day from Khadilah Thompson.

Richmond softball 12, Lumberton 1

LUMBERTON — The Lumberton softball team struggled late in a 12-1 loss to Richmond.

The Pirates trailed 6-1 after six but allowed six runs in the seventh inning and finished the game with eight errors. Meagan Skipper and Jordan Jones both went 1-for-3 with a double.