University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Temple- A-10 Championships
Richmond Downs Temple, 5-3 In A-10 Baseball Championships
05/17/2002 | Baseball
May 17, 2002
Top-seeded University of Richmond defeated Temple, 5-3, to advance to the winner's bracket final of the Verizon Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich, Conn. on Friday afternoon. The 21st-ranked Spiders (47-8) will meet George Washington. The Colonials beat the second-seed St. Bonaventure by a 7-6 score in 11 innings.
Temple opened the scoring in the top of the first as Joseph Lyall led off the game by reaching on a throwing error charged to UR junior third baseman David Reaver (Union Bridge, Md.). After stealing second base and advancing to third on an error from catcher Adam Tidball (Bethesda, Md.), Lyall scored on Al Roach's single to center. The Owls would leave three aboard in the first in taking a 1-0 lead.
Reaver gave the Spiders a 3-1 advantage in the third, crushing a two-run homer over the left field fence with John Cronin (Branford, Conn.) on board.Temple responded in the next frame, knotting the score at 3-3 thanks to a Mike Weckenman two-run single.
The score remained knotted as sophomore right hander Tim Stauffer (14-2) (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) worked the plate for 10 stikeouts in eight and a third innings. Temple had a runner aboard in the fifth and seventh innings but Stauffer would snuff out any attack, striking out the batter for the final out.
Freshman Brian Ruscello (Bethel Park, Pa.) led off the seventh inning by being hit with a Matt Powell pitch. Sophomore Bobby LeNoir (Wilmington, Del.), pinch running for Ruscello, moved to second on a Chris Dolan (Holmdel, N.J.) sacrifice bunt. With one out, freshman Jim Fasano (Horsham, Pa.), pinch-hitting for A.J. Board drove in LeNoir to give the Spiders the lead for good. Richmond added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Reaver's RBI slice into right.
Temple threatened in the ninth as Sam Sabolchick singled to start the inning. He advanced to second on a ground out. After Stauffer walked Jason Connor to put two on, junior Andy Givens entered in relief. The right hander threw nine pitches, striking out the final two batters to earn his fifth save of the year.
