University of Richmond Athletics
Back to the Field, Baseball Resumes the Action
04/25/2003 | Baseball
April 25, 2003
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - After taking the week off for exams, the Spiders return to Pitt Field to take on Xavier in an Atlantic 10 series. Xavier currently holds the number two spot in the West Division of the A-10 with an 8-4 record, while Richmond sits in the top West Division spot compiling a 12-2 record.
Richmond will play a noon doubleheader on Saturday, April 26. The teams conclude the series in a single game at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, April 27.
Last year, Richmond traveled to Cincinnati for its first meeting with the Musketeers. Xavier won the first game, but Richmond rallied to take the series 2-1.
Sunday's series finale will air locally on WLEE-AM 990 and worldwide on RichmondSpiders.com. Live stats will be provided for the entire three-game set.
Below are some game notes for the Xavier series:
IN THE DUGOUT
Richmond completed their third A-10 series sweep at La Salle ... Senior Vito Chiaravalloti broke the career RBI record at Towson and then tied the career home run record at La Salle ... The Spiders knocked in 12 multiple base hits, six homers, five doubles, and one triple in the La Salle series ... Richmond stole 17 bases in the Dayton series and nine in the La Salle series ... Eight Spiders, six of them starters, are batting over .300 ... Freshman Ben Zeskind leads the squad with .397 ... He went 7-for-7 for two consecutive games (4/2-4/5) with two home runs ... Jim Fasano follows with a .374 batting average and has plated 45 Spiders, eight of them in the three-game set with Dayton ... Spider pitchers have struck out 356 batters, averaging 9.37 a game ... The Richmond pitching staff has a 3.03 ERA, while opponents have a 6.50 ERA ... Junior Tim Stauffer leads the bullpen with 97 strikeouts ... Stauffer claimed the career strikeout record against URI (4/5) ... Richmond posted the third best start with one loss (13-1), following 2002 (15-1) and 1935 (14-1) ... The Spiders enter their second year as a member of the Atlantic 10 ... They claimed the regular-season West Division title after posting a league-record 22-2 mark ... For the month of April, Richmond will play ten home contests ... The Spiders hit the road for ten away games ... Of those, three stay within state lines and seven go out of Virginia ... Six of the away games are A-10 series at Dayton and La Salle.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
On April 5 in the top of the fifth, with a runner on second and no outs, Richmond's ace Vito Chiaravalloti added his name to the career record books on April 15, launching a two-run homer to claim the career RBI record with 217. Stauffer has fanned 97 this season and amassed 313 during his career. The preseason All-American already holds the single-season strikeout record at 140 from last year's performance. Chiaravalloti, like Stauffer, also holds the single-season RBI record with 86 from 2002. He has scored 32 Spiders this season and totals 224 during his career.
SHOOTING FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
After demolishing several single-season hitting records last year, the Spiders are looking toward the career records. Senior Vito Chiaravalloti is tied with the career home run record, needing only one more to break the 55 homer knot with Mike Dwyer. Classmate Tim Stauffer is on pace to set the career victories and complete games record, needing only 14 complete games and 11 wins for the season. Reliever Andy Givens has already tied the career saves record at 11 and will claim it with one more save.
ROBBING THE BASES
Junior David Reaver isn't far behind with 19-of-22 successful attempts with 3-of-3 at Dayton and 3-of-4 at La Salle. The trio ranks first (LeNoir), second (Reaver), and fourth (Pritz) in the A-10 for stolen bases.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
After putting up the most-improved 2002 season, the Spiders continue to rank in the national statistics. Richmond's Tim Stauffer ranks 15th in the nation for ERA (1.64). Stauffer also ranks sixth in strikeouts per nine innings with 13.2. Teammates Jason Bolinski (11.0 K's/gm) and Tim Rice (10.8 K's/gm) join Stauffer on the list in the 22nd and 30th spot. Along with the national stats, the Spiders lead the Atlantic 10 in several categories. As a team, they lead in batting average (.316) and ERA (3.03). Richmond also has numerous individual leaders in the top categories.
