University of Richmond Athletics
No. 21 Baseball Travels To Atlantic 10 Tournament Preliminary Round
05/14/2002 | Baseball
May 14, 2002
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The University of Richmond baseball team (46-8, 22-2 Atlantic 10), owners of the second best record in the nation, travel to Norwich, Conn. for the preliminary round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The top-seeded Spiders begin play at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17 against the winner of the No. 4 Temple vs. No. 5 Xavier contest.
Two teams will emerge from the double-elimination preliminary round and then travel to the home site of the higher seed for a best-of-three championship series (May 23-25). The winner of that series captures the Atlantic 10's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Richmond won more games overall and in conference contests than any Atlantic 10 program in league history. The Spiders enter the A-10 Tournament with an eight-game win streak overall and a 10-game win streak in conference action.
Program Record For Wins ... With 46 wins during the 2002 regular season, the Spiders have already surpassed the previous mark for most wins in a season (43 in 1995) ... The 1998 and 1999 teams won 41 games, while the 1994 team won 34 games to complete the all-time top five ... Richmond has advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year that it won 40+ games.
National Notoriety ... The Richmond Spiders have been ranked for nine-straight weeks by several collegiate baseball publications ... Richmond earned its highest ranking in program history when Baseball America slotted the Spiders 19th on April 15 ... Richmond's previous trip up the charts ended at No. 21 in 1995.
Streaking ... The Spiders enter the Atlantic 10 Tournament having won eight consecutive games ... It marks the third-longest win streak of the 2002 season, as Richmond began the campaign with a10-game win streak and later won nine straight (March 19-March 31).
A Fourth Conference Championship ... For the fourth time under head coach Ron Atkins, the Spiders have captured their conference regular-season championship ... The Spiders finished 22-2 in their first season of Atlantic 10 competition, five games ahead of George Washington in the Atlantic 10 West Division ... Richmond won the Colonial Athletic Association championship in 1991, 1996 and 1999.
Seeking A Fourth Conference Tournament Title ... The Spiders will be searching for their fourth conference tournament championship in their first-ever Atlantic 10 post-season tournament ... Richmond won the CAA tournament in 1986, 1997 and 1998 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid.
High Octane Offense ... The Richmond offense enters the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a .319 batting average, the highest since hitting .320 in 1982 ... Five Spiders are hitting above .300 and one is above .400 (David Reaver/.409) ... Richmond has outscored its opponents 425-228 this season (7.87-4.22 runs/game).
Double-Digit Results ... Richmond has scored double-digit runs 19 times this season and in three of the past five games ... Richmond's opponent has scored double-digit runs six times and once in the past five games ... The Spiders have stroked 10+ hits 26 times in 54 games this season, while their opposition has collected 10+ knocks 17 times ... Richmond is 16-1 when scoring double-digit runs and 22-2 when gathering 10+ hits ... The Spiders have won their last nine games when posting double-digit hits.
We Dig The Long Ball ... Richmond has blasted 79 home runs (1.46/game) this season and has allowed only 37 (0.69/game) ... The Spiders cracked a season-high six bombs at George Washington (April 29), which was part of a nine-game streak where Richmond belted at least one home run ... Junior Vito Chiaravalloti leads the team with 19 dingers so far this spring and sits five home runs behind Mike Dwyer who set the program single-season record with 24 in 1998.
Striking In Bunches ... The Spiders have stroked 162 multiple-hit games this season as a team ... Junior Vito Chiaravalloti leads the team with 14 multiple-RBI games ... Craig is second with 20 and the team has notched 103 after 54 games.
Winning The Close Ones ... What separates the good teams from the great teams is winning the close games ... Richmond is 11-2 in one-run games and 5-2 in two-run contests ... The Spiders have won their last three one-run games.
Getting In Front Early ... Richmond has outscored its opponents 50-29 in the first innings this season and 146-76 in the first three innings ... The Spiders' most prolific inning is the sixth where they have scored 63 runs ... Richmond has allowed the most runs (39) in the fourth.
Against The Atlantic 10 ... The University of Richmond baseball program has posted a 76-38 (.667) all-time record against current members of the Atlantic 10 conference ... Head coach Ron Atkins is 44-7 (.863) all-time against A-10 programs.
Richmond vs. Non-Conference Opponents ... The Spiders posted a 24-6 record against non-conference competition this season ... Richmond was 15-4 against schools from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
NCAA Tournament Opponents ... Richmond is 6-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament games ... The Spiders won a program-best three games in 1999 ... Richmond's first NCAA Tournament win came against Jacksonville, 8-2, in the 1995 Regionals.
A Lofty Average ... Junior third baseman David Reaver has carried a batting average above .400 since April 6 ... Currently, he stands at .409 after reaching a season-high .434 mark on April 20 ... Contributing to his batting average was a school-record 34-game hit streak ... The last Spiders to hit over .400 in a season happened in 1999 when Nate Rewers (.413) and Mike Dwyer (.412) both accomplished the feat.
A Remarkable Record ... Richmond junior David Reaver broke the all-time Richmond record with a 34-game hit streak this season ... The third baseman surpassed Sean Casey's mark of 31 games, set in 1995, during the Xavier series ... During his 34-game streak, Reaver hit .485 (65-134) with 47 runs scored and 30 RBI ... He compiled a .542 on-base percentage and a .731 slugging percentage.
Two Dominating Starters ... The combination of sophomore Tim Stauffer and junior Mike McGirr forms the most potent pitching tandem in Spider history ... Stauffer (13) and McGirr (11) have accounted for 24 wins in 30 appearances ... The last duo of Spider hurlers to notch 10+ wins in a season was Mike Smith (11-2) and Mike Dwyer (10-5) in 1999.
U-S-A, U-S-A ... Sophomore right-hander Tim Stauffer has been invited to the Team USA tryouts in Tucson, Ariz. from June 18-23 ... Stauffer was one of the first 19 players selected to attend the National Team Trials ... Of the 19 players, eight were pitchers ... The Saratoga Springs, N.Y. native is 12-2 this season with a 1.60 ERA.
The Cycle ... Sophomore Chris Dolan hit for the cycle in Richmond's 19-14 win at Virginia Tech -- the first time in recent history any Spider accomplished the feat ... The Holmdel, N.J. native led off the game with two singles (second and third innings), then hit a double in the fourth, a home run in the seventh and a triple in the ninth ... He finished the game 5-6 with five runs scored and two RBI.
Home of the Spiders ... The home of Richmond baseball is Pitt Field ... Named after legendary Spider coach Mac Pitt, the park holds 600 spectators ... The turf is bermuda grass with red clay and sand baselines ... The field is symmetrical and the dimensions are: 328-350-380-350-328.
Sweet Home Pitt Field ... If the Spiders can emerge from the preliminary round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, they will host the Atlantic 10 Championship Series on campus at Pitt Field ... Richmond is 23-3 at home this season, and a perfect 12-0 in home conference contests ... The 22-3 home mark is the best since the 1999 squad notched an identical record ... Over the past eight seasons, Richmond is 140-47-1 (.747) at Pitt Field.
