University of Richmond Athletics
Baseball Faces Cross-Town Rival VCU
03/11/2004 | Baseball
March 11, 2004
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond baseball team is set to take-on cross-town rival, Virginia Commonwealth University (9-5), in a four-game series beginning this afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Diamond in Richmond, Va. The series continues this weekend, with Saturday's contest (2:00 p.m.) also scheduled to be played at the Diamond and Friday (2:30 p.m.) and Sunday's (1:00 p.m.) games will be played at Pitt Field.
Scheduled to take the mound for the Spiders (9-2) are juniors Thomas Martin on Thursday, Derek Duclos on Friday and Jason Bolinski on Saturday. Martin posts a 2-0 record, struck out 22 and has allowed only nine runs during his 18.0 innings of action. Duclos records the team best .093 ERA and a 3-0 record. He has struck out 24 and allowed only six hits during his 19.1 innings pitched. Bolinski (1-0) has pitched 17.2 innings for Richmond and posts a 4.08 ERA, striking out 15.
GAME NOTES
The Series
The Richmond Spiders and Virginia Commonwealth Rams have met at least once every year, beginning in 1979. Richmond won the first meeting, 15-4 and the most recent meeting, April 30, 2003, 11-5. The Spiders also leads the all-times series against the Rams, 31-29.
The Coaches
This marks the 20th year Spider head coach Ron Atkins has come face-to-face with the Rams, he posts a 25-26 record and 13-17 against Rams head coach Paul Keys. Keys is in his tenth year with VCU and posts a 340-196 overall record. The Rams finished the 2003 season with a 46-13 record, were the CAA champions and competed in the NCAA Tournament. They are coming off three losses to Auburn last weekend.
Weekend ReCap
Richmond swept Quinnipiac in a three-game series last weekend, March 6-7. Derek Duclos struck out 12 in 6.0 innings of action to posted his third win of the season, in the first game on Sunday. Senior David Thomas crushed his first home run of the season against the Bobcats on Sunday.
On Deck
After the Spiders conclude the four-game series against Virginia Commonwealth they host William & Mary on Tuesday, March 16 at 2:30 p.m. and travel to take-on VMI Wednesday, March 17 at 2 p.m.
