University of Richmond Athletics
Summer League Champions
08/12/2002 | Baseball
Aug. 12, 2002
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Playoff Series MVP and NCAA All-American Vito Chiaravalloti (Middletown, N.J.) belted the game-winning home run to propel the Newport Gulls to their second consecutive New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) championship with a 3-2 win against the Keene Swamp Bats in Newport, R.I. on Aug. 10. University of Richmond teammates Adam Tidball and Bryan Pritz were also members of the championship squad.
With his fourth home run in as many games, Chiaravalloti capped his playoff season with a .348 batting average and 11 RBI. The first baseman continued his flair for the dramatic as he hit the game-winning grand slam against Nebraska in the second game of the NCAA Tournament's Super-Regional round in Lincoln, Neb. on June 8.
Center fielder Adam Tidball hit .333 during the playoffs and finished with a team-high 14 doubles for the season.
Another Spider, rising senior David Reaver, competed for the Gulls during the regular season. The third baseman and Union Bridge, Md. native batted .262 with seven doubles in 34 games.
Spider left-handed pitcher Tim Rice also played in the NECBL this summer. The Brookfield, Conn. native posted a 1-2 record while compiling a 2.70 ERA in 36.2 innings. The rising sophomore threw the first no-hitter in more than two years of league competition in a 1-0 win against the Manchester Silkworms on July 24. Spider classmates Jim Fasano (.240, three home runs in 35 games) and John Cronin (.212, 11 runs in 27 games) also played for Torrington.
Richmond baseball broke several school records during the 2002 campaign, advancing farther than any other Spiders squad in school history. Richmond captured its first-ever NCAA Regional title by defeating fourth-ranked Wake Forest in the Winston-Salem Regional before taking Nebraska to a decisive third game in the Super-Regional round. The Spiders set team records in wins (53), games (66), hits (682), runs (497) and RBI (453).
