University of Richmond Athletics
Spider Baseball Opens Atlantic 10 Season By Hosting Xavier
03/18/2005 | Baseball
March 18, 2005
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Richmond (6-9, 0-0) takes on Xavier (5-11, 0-0) -- March 19-20
Site: Pitt Field (600) - Richmond, Va.
Game Times: Saturday (DH) - Noon, Sunday - Noon
Rankings: Richmond is not ranked. Xavier is not ranked.
Coaches: Richmond's Ron Atkins is 647-453-4 in his 21st season at Richmond and overall. Xavier's Dan Simonds is 5-11 in his first season with the Musketeers and overall.
Pressbox Phone: (Richmond) 804.310.1287
Audio: None
Internet: Gametracker (livestats) is available for all three games.
Gametracker - Saturday (Game 1)
Gametracker - Saturday (Game 2)
Gametracker - Sunday
Television: None
Tentative Richmond Rotation
Saturday - Game One: Rob Berzinskas, RHP, So. (1-2, 2.78 ERA)
Saturday - Game Two: Ja Jones, RHP, So. (1-1, 5.18 ERA)
Sunday: TBA
The Atlantic 10 Opener Against Xavier
The Spiders (6-9) open their fourth season of Atlantic 10 play Saturday when they welcome Xavier (5-11) to Pitt Field. Richmond and the Musketeers will square off in a three-game series beginning March 19 with a doubleheader at noon. Sunday's single game is scheduled to get underway at noon.
Richmond is undefeated in A-10 opening weekends over the last three years with a combined mark of 9-0. The Spiders knocked off UMass, Temple and St. Joe's in three-game home sets dating back to 2002. Richmond is 58-13 overall against the Atlantic 10 and has a winning all-time record against 10 of its 11 other members.
Xavier is riding a three-game win streak heading into the weekend. The Musketeers knocked off Cleveland State (10-3), Akron (8-5) and Northern Illinios (7-2) earlier in the week at home. Jay Johnson leads the Xavier squad in as many as seven offensive categories including hits (17) and RBI (14). Brett Smith has the best ERA of the three scheduled starters at 2.95. Mike Creevy is slated to go in the first game and Smith will follow on the first day. Michael Lucas will be the Musketeers' third starter in the series.
Junior Andrew Justice continues to lead the Spiders at the plate. The Henderson, N.C., native is hitting .364 with a team-best 20 hits in 55 at-bats. He has hit safely in the last eight and 12 of the last 13. He also has eight multi-hit games in the team's 15 contests, including two strings of three straight.
Richmond will send Rob Berzinskas and Ja Jones to the hill in Saturday's doubleheader. Berzinskas was roughed up for nine runs on nine hits in his last start, March 12, at VCU. Jones did not fare much better in his last start, surrendering seven runs on six hits in 4.0 innings against VCU March 13.
Spiders In The Atlantic 10 Conference
Richmond opens Atlantic 10 play this weekend with Xavier and will try to improve on an already stellar record of 58-13 against A-10 opponents. The Spiders hold all-time winning marks against 10 of the 11 other A-10 schools.
In all three A-10 Conference-opening weekends the Spiders have swept the three-game sets. In its inaugural A-10 year (2002), Richmond topped UMass all three games by a combined score of 28-9 including a shutout in the first game of the series.
In 2003, the Spiders swept Temple by a score of 29-11. The Owls fought for a one-run defeat in the first game of the series, but faltered in games two and three. Last season Richmond welcomed Saint Joseph's to Pitt Field for the A-10 opener and won all three. The Spiders topped the Hawks in two one-run games and won the other in a two-run shutout.
The Spiders are 7-4 against the Musketeers and are 2-1 against Xavier in the friendly confines of Pitt Field. Each of the three contests proved to be one-run games. Richmond lost the first of three, 0-1, then won the next two, 1-0 and 7-6.
Justice Is Being Served
Junior Andrew Justice has been on fire since the final game in Charleston, S.C. (third game of the season). The Henderson, N.C., native is hitting .426 in the Spiders' last 13 games and has a team-best 20 base hits. Since the team's loss to Old Dominion 13 games ago, Justice has hit safely in 12 contests including eight multi-hit contests. On the season, he has reached base every game but one and leads the team with an average of .364 and 26 total bases.
Justice is also sparkling in situational hitting. He ranks second on the team with a .438 average with runners in scoring position. He has come to the plate 30 times with runners on and garnered a hit 11 of those times (.367).
The Bats Are Alive
Richmond's offense has come alive over the last five contests. The Spiders have averaged over 10 hits in those five and raised the team average more than 20 points to .255. A total of 15 extra-base hits and 30 RBI have come in the last five and Richmond is averaging 8.6 runs a game. The club is averaging 35.4 AB's in those five games for a batting average of .293. The power is also back as evidenced by four homeruns in the five contests, compared to just one in the previous 10 games.
Tighten Up The Defense
The Spiders have committed 32 errors in just 15 games for an average of 2.1 per game. Thirty-four unearned runs have come from the 32 errors for an average of 2.3 unearned runs per game. Only once has an error not led to a run for Richmond's opponents and that came in the Spiders' 2-1 win against Princeton. In all teams have scored 25 unearned runs in Richmond's losses and only nine in its six wins. There are three Richmond losses which were effected by errors, look below to get the rundown:
Opponent (Date) - Score - Earned Runs - Possible Score
ODU (2/19) - L, 4-5 - 4 - T, 4-4
VCU (3/11) - L, 4-6 - 4 - T, 4-4
VCU (3/12) - L, 6-9 - 3 - W, 6-3
Pitching Woes
In Richmond's six wins the staff has an ERA of 2.72 allowing 25 runs (4.2/game) on 41 hits (6.8/game). In the nine losses the Spiders have an ERA of 9.24 with 103 runs allowed (11.4/game) on 108 hits (12/game). Teams are batting .329 against Richmond's staff in the losses and have blasted 30 extra base hits (3.3/game). In the Spiders' wins opponents are hitting .211 with only 19 extra-base hits (3.1/game).
Scouting the Musketeers
As a team Xavier is hitting .252 with a slugging percentage of .354 and an on-base percentage of .330. Senior outfielder Jay Johnson has a team-best 17 hits in 51 at-bats and is hitting .333. The Crestview Hill, Ky., native also leads the team in RBI (14), homeruns (3), triples (2), runs (15), walks (12) and stolen bases (4).
On the mound Xavier has an ERA of 4.54 in 123 innings. The staff has struck out 73 and allowed 89 hits in 488 AB's. Game one starter Mike Creevy carries a 6.17 ERA in 23.1 innings. The sophomore righthander is 1-2 in four starts and has surrendered 18 runs on 35 hits. Brett Smith, Xavier's game two pitcher, has an ERA of 2.95 in three starts. The senior righthander (0-3) has fanned six in 18.1 innings and given up 14 runs on 22 hits. Sunday's starter for the Musketeers, Michael Lucas, is 2-2 with an ERA of 6.11. The freshman righthander has worked 17.2 innings in four starts and allowed 16 runs on 19 hits. Lucas has the lowest average allowed of all three starters with a .260. He also leads the team with 17 strikeouts in 73 at-bats against.
