University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
George Washington- A-10 Championship Final
Baseball Evens Series Against George Washington, 12-5
05/24/2002 | Baseball
May 24, 2002
RICHMOND, VA - Richmond exploded for 12 runs to earn a 12-5 victory over George Washington and force a deciding third game in the best-of-three Championship Round of the Verizon Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Pitt Field in Richmond, VA.
The Spiders (49-9) will meet the Colonials (41-21) at 1:00pm tomorrow with the winner being awarded the Atlantic 10's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Trailing 3-2 entering the sixth inning, Richmond finally took its first lead of this Championship Round. Matt Craig led off the inning with a walk which was followed by a Vito Chiaravalloti single. A wild pitch by George Washington starter Jason Baker was preceded Adam Tidball's sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Craig. Jim Fasano, hitting for Chris Dolan, singled to left to drive in Chiaravalloti and give the Spiders a 4-3 lead.
The Spiders tacked on an insurance run the next inning. Bryan Pritz smacked a one-out double to centerfield and was scored by a David Reaver single to center, giving Richmond a 5-3 lead. Brian Ruscello put the game out of reach in the top of the eighth. With Chiaravalloti on board with his third walk of the day, Ruscello cleared the left field fence to put the Spiders up, 7-3.
The Colonials opened the scoring in the bottom half of the first inning. With Tony Dokoupil on with a double and Jeff Fertitta on with a single, Mike Bassett, yesterday's hero with his 10th-inning two-run game-winning home run, hit Thomas Martin's first pitched over the rightfield fence to give the Colonials a 3-0 lead. It was Bassett's second home run on as many pitches.
Richmond came back in the top of the second by loading the bases with none out and putting Baker in his first jam of the day. However, Baker, who played his first two seasons for the Spiders before transferring to George Washington last year, got Dolan to ground into a double play, scoring Chiaravalloti, who led off the inning with a walk. Baker then got A.J. Board on a grounder to second to escape with a 3-1 lead.
Richmond cut the lead to 3-2 in the top half of the fourth inning. With one out, Chiaravalloti walked on four pitches for the second time today. After a Tidball single, Ruscello singled to left, driving in Chiaravalloti.
After a shaky first inning, Richmond starter Thomas Martin's settled down in raising his record to 7-0. Martin, who worked into the eighth inning, allowed eight hits and four earned runs while striking out nine. With two on in the eighth, Tim Rice came on to get Chris Barry to ground into a double play. However, Rice walked Ryan Roberson and allowed a Nick Iovacchini single before yielding to Andy Givens. Givens allowed a base hit to Jake Wald, which scored Matt Krimmel to pull the Colonials to within 7-4. He then got pinch hitter Anthony Raglani to fly to centerfield to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, Chiaravalloti double to drive in Pritz and Craig to put the Spiders up, 10-4. David Thomas then belted a two-run home run with Bobby LeNoir aboard to make it 12-4. Joe Michalski hit a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to end the day's scoring. Baker, who fell to 5-6, was charged with five earned runs while allowing seven hits and walking three. Each of the three batters he walked scored. Givens pitched one and a third-innings to earn his sixth save of the year.
With his five runs scored, Chiaravalloti tied an Atlantic 10 Championship record. He ended the day 2-for-2 with four walks. Tidball and Ruscello also had a pair of hits, while Pritz and Craig scored twice for the Spiders. As for the Colonials, Bassett, Krimmel and Jake Wald had two hits.
