University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
at James Madison
Spiders Lose At James Madison, 12-7
04/20/2005 | Baseball
April 20, 2005
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Spider baseball team blasted two homers Wednesday against James Madison, but gave up four round-trippers and fell 12-7 to the Dukes in Harrisonburg, Va. Richmond drops to 15-23 on the season, while JMU improves to 16-21 with the win. Richmond has now hit nine homeruns over the last three contests, pushing its season total to 22.
James Madison took the lead in the first when Kellen Kulbacki singled in Skyler Doom from third. Doom led off the inning with a bunt single and an error on Richmond sophomore Matt McKenna.
The Spiders tied the contest in the third when freshman Hank Coogan singled to begin the inning then was moved to second on a sac-bunt from freshman Austin Reilly. Junior Ben Zeskind drove Coogan in with a double to center, which extended his hit streak to 14 games.
Richmond took its first lead of the game in the fourth when sophomore Anthony Sandstrom doubled with two outs and junior Andrew Justice at second. Coogan then posted his second hit of the day, a two-run single down the right field line to make the score 3-1.
The Dukes pulled to within one in the bottom half of the fourth off Richmond reliever junior John Richardson. Dan Santobianco led off the inning with a double then scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matt Sluder.
Richardson came out in the fifth and gave up the Spiders' lead on back-to-back homeruns from Michael Cowgill and Kulbacki. Richmond did not waste time, knotting the game once again in the sixth when McKenna singled down the left field line to score Justice from second.
Richardson labored in the last half of the sixth giving up four runs on three hits, including two more consecutive homeruns.
With two outs and a runner at first in the seventh, freshman Joe Mahoney made it a two-run ballgame with his sixth dinger of the season. JMU pushed the lead back to four runs in its half of the seventh with and RBI-double and an RBI-single off Spider sophomore Lee Rattigan.
Sandstrom gave the Spiders their seventh and final run of the game with a solo homer in the eighth. Richmond looked to try adding more in the inning with runners at first and second two outs and Zeskind at the plate, but the Miami, Fla., native grounded out to the end the inning.
The Dukes scored two more in their part of the eighth and Richmond failed to make a comeback in the ninth falling 12-7.
The Spiders continue their road swing this weekend with a three-game Atlantic 10 series in Dayton. Richmond and the Flyers open the series with a single nine-inning game Friday, April 22, at 3 p.m. at Time Warner Stadium The two teams then wrap-up the three-game set with a doubleheader at noon, Saturday, April 23.
Game Notes
- Junior Ben Zeskind extended his hit streak to 14 games with an RBI-double in the third. The junior did, however, snap his multi-hit streak at six by going 1-for-5 on the day.
- Junior John Richardson gave up the first earned runs of his career (6ER, 7H, 3.1IP).
- The Spiders have now hit nine homeruns in the last three games.
- James Madison's back-to-back homers in the fifth marked the first time Richmond allowed the feat since its game at George Mason, April 12.
- Freshman Hank Coogan (3-for-4, 2RBI, 1R) recorded the second multi-hit game of his career and first since going 2-for-6 against St. Bonaventure April 3.
- Richmond's five errors tied a season-high. The last time the Spiders had five miscues they lost 16-4 at Old Dominion March 16.
