University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
*at La Salle
Richmond Baseball Sweeps La Salle With Doubleheader Win In Philly
05/08/2005 | Baseball
May 8, 2005
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Timely situational hitting and two complete games lifted the Spider baseball team to a doubleheader and series sweep of La Salle, Saturday, May 7 in Philadelphia, Pa. With the 7-4 and 10-4 wins Richmond improves to 18-25 overall and 11-7 in the A-10. La Salle dropped to 17-26 on the season and now sit at 8-10 in the league.
GAME 1
La Salle struck early with a run in the first on a sac-fly to right. The Explorers later pushed one across in the third by stringing together a triple and run-scoring single off freshman Stephen Owens.
The Spiders, who were sent down in order over the first three innings, answered by taking a lead in the top half of the fourth. Junior Ben Zeskind got the inning started with a single to right and was followed by a walk to sophomore Anthony Sandstrom. After freshman Joe Mahoney singled to score Zeskind from second, junior Andrew Justice laid down a sacrifice bunt, but reached on an error. The error allowed Justice to move to second and Sandstrom to score, tying the game at 2-2. With one out and runners at second and third the Spiders' freshman Alex Hale executed a sacrifice squeeze to perfection which brought Mahoney home for the lead.
Owens struck out the lead off hitter in the bottom half of the fourth then gave up consecutive singles to knot the game at 3-3. La Salle popped out for the second out of the inning, then scored a go-ahead run on a single to center.
Richmond again answered the call and tied the game in the fifth with a single from Mahoney. Freshman Austin Reilly reached second to begin the inning on a two-base error. The Explorers walked Zeskind and got Sandstrom to foul out before Mahoney drove one through the right side for the RBI.
The Spiders hurler, Owens, seemed untouchable over the last three, retiring the last nine he faced to end the game, the first complete game of his career. Richmond went down in order in the sixth, but pushed across three in the seventh.
The inning began with a walk to Reilly which was followed by another Zeskind single to right. Sandstrom came through with all three RBI and the game-winner when he blasted a shot over the right-center field wall. The middle infielder showed bunt, then with La Salle's wheel play in motion pulled the bat back to slash his fifth homer of the season for the win.
Game Notes
- Freshman Stephen Owens recorded the first complete game of his career.
- Sophomore Anthony Sandstrom notched his second go-ahead homer of the season and his first game-winning RBI with the three-run shot in the seventh.
- Sophomore Matt McKenna snapped a season-best seven-game hit streak.
- Junior Ben Zeskind has now hit safely in the last three and 16 of the last 17.
GAME 2
Richmond got game two started by scoring two runs in the second thanks to two La Salle errors. Freshman Joe White singled with one out then advanced all the way to third when freshman Ryan Metzroth hit a ball to the Explorer first baseman. The ball ricocheted off the infielder's glove then after the pitcher picked it up to make a play he threw it off the bag which allowed Metzroth and White to advance one base. Reilly proceeded to drive in White with a sac-fly to right and Metzroth scored on a single up the middle by Zeskind.
La Salle posted two in the bottom of the second off junior Ja Jones. A lead off walk was followed by an out then later by an RBI-triple and RBI-single.
The Spiders did not waste time retaking the lead in the third with four runs on four hits and an error. Justice singled to lead off the inning then advanced to second on a single from White. Freshman Ryan Metzroth came to the plate with two outs and roped a triple to right-center. Two runs scored and Metzroth was awarded home on an errant throw by the La Salle shortstop which left the field. Richmond did not let up, Reilly walked and Zeskind was intentionally walked to allow Sandstrom to single and drive in another run.
The Spiders continued to manufacture runs in the late innings. Sophomore Matt McKenna scored in the fourth on a wild pitch. Another run was posted in the sixth when Justice doubled to lead off the inning and scored on an RBI-single from Hale. Richmond posted its final two runs in the seventh on an RBI-ground out from Mahoney and a run-scoring single off the bat of McKenna.
The Explorers scored one each in the fifth and seventh off Jones, but it was not enough.
Three Spiders, juniors John Richardson, Tim Rice and Derek Duclos, will graduate in commencement ceremonies Sunday afternoon in the Robins Center on the Richmond campus. The team will then play its final home games of the season Monday and Tuesday, May 9-10, against Radford. Monday's game at Pitt Field will begin at 3 p.m., and prior to Tuesday's 3 p.m. contest the team will honor its seniors in their final game at Pitt Field.
Game Notes
- Richmond is now 12-0 all-time against La Salle.
- Freshman Ryan Metzroth garnered his first multi-RBI game of the season.
- All but one Spider recorded a hit in the game and all but two drove in at least one run.
