University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Xavier (A-10 Tournament)
No. 14 Baseball Advances To Championship Series
05/17/2003 | Baseball
May 17, 2003
NORWICH, Conn. - Junior second baseman Bobby LeNoir (Wilmington, Del.) lead the charge as the Spiders defeated Xavier 6-3 to earn their second berth to the Atlantic 10 Championship series. Richmond (44-13) will now host the number two-seeded Minutemen of Massachusetts in the best-of-three series that begins on Thursday. Earlier in the afternoon, Richmond knocked 17 hits to defeat George Washington 8-2 to remain in the tournament and face Xavier in the ninth game.
In the second frame, Richmond took a 3-0 lead. Senior leftfielder Michael Galligan (Woodbury, N.Y.) stroked an infield single. Shortstop David Reaver (Union Bridge, Md.) followed with another infield single to advance Galligan to second. Catcher Adam Tidball (Bethesda, Md.) then ripped a double into left field to send Galligan and Reaver home. Tidball then crossed the plate on a LeNoir double down the left field line for a 3-0 advantage.
Xavier responded in its half of the frame with a run. Brett Smith stroked a right field single to score Alec Moss for a 3-1 Richmond lead.
In the third, the Spiders strung together three singles to load the bases. First baseman Jim Fasano (Horsham, Pa.) touched home on a Reaver sacrifice fly.
Richmond added two more runs for a 6-1 lead in the fifth. LeNoir led off with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a Bryan Pritz (Wilmette, Ill.) walk. LeNoir and Pritz then performed a double steal, taking third and second. Freshman Ben Zeskind (Miami, Fla.) stroked a RBI single to score LeNoir. Pritz touched home when Zeskind stole second and Musketeer catcher Eric Armstrong over-threw to second.
Xavier added two runs to cut the score to 6-3 in the seventh and eighth. Centerfielder Jay Johnson knocked an infield single and eventually scored on a Smith groundout. After Matt Tedford pinch hit to reach on a single, Steve Sakosits pinch ran. Sakosits crossed home for Xavier's final run on an error by Spider reliever Matt McLoughlin (San Diego, Calif.).
Sophomore righty Jason Bolinski (Hockessin, Del.) struck out eight in 7.0 innings of work. Bolinski (9-1) allowed only three hits and one earned run. McLoughlin tossed the final two innings, giving up one hit and one run before striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth for his first save of the season. Xavier's Greg Wiggers took the loss, falling to 4-6 for the year.
During the two games, Vito Chiaravalloti (Middletown, N.J.) and Reaver added their names to the Richmond record book again. Chiaravalloti improved his career total bases to 515, taking over the record of 509 from Mike Dwyer (1996-99). With his eighth inning run against George Washington, Chiaravalloti tied the career mark of 214, held by Nate Rewers (1996-99). Reaver also tied the career triples record in the contest against George Washington, ripping one into the right centerfield gap. The Spider shortstop currently shares the record with Mike Gibbons (1982-85).
Along with the individual records, the squad broke the most stolen bases team record of 108 from last year's record-setting season. Zeskind's fourth inning rob against Xavier took the team total up to 109.
The Spiders will host Massachusetts at Pitt Field in the Atlantic 10 Championship series Thursday, May 22 through Saturday, May 24.
