University of Richmond Athletics
Baseball Opens Home Portion Of A-10 Slate With UMass This Weekend
03/30/2006 | Baseball
March 30, 2006
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Richmond, one of five teams two games back in the Atlantic 10 standings, will look to gain ground on the conference leaders this weekend when they open the home portion of their A-10 slate. The UMass Minutemen come to Pitt Field (2-11, 0-3) after dropping each of their last six.
In a format new to 2006, all Atlantic 10 Conference series will be played in three nine-inning games over the three-day weekend. The Spiders are coming off a 1-2 weekend finish in Saint Louis. Richmond won the first of three, 14-2, last Friday, but fell in the final two, 12-2 and 8-3. During their most recent midweek play, the Spiders went 1-1 with a loss at Virginia Tech Tuesday and a win Wednesday over visiting William & Mary.
This weekend's games will mark the third, fourth and fifth games of a 10-game homestand for the Spiders.
Junior Rob Berzinskas will toe the rubber for Richmond in Friday's series opener. Last weekend against the Billikens, Berzinskas was perfect into the fourth, had a no-hitter into the fifth and was in line for a shutout into the seventh as the Spiders won 14-2. Freshman Ian Marshall and sophomore Alex Hale will get the nod for the Spiders in games two and three, respectively. Each will be making only their second career starts, as both have yet to start an Atlantic 10 Conference game.
Quick Notes...
-- Richmond leads the all-time series with the Minutemen, 8-4. The first meeting in the 12-game series came in 1955. The Spiders have won the last two in the series and have won as many as five-straight in the series from 2001 to 2003.
-- Spider head coach Ron Atkins is 8-1 against UMass in his 22-year career.
-- Massachusetts will visit Pitt Field for the first time since the 2002 season. Richmond swept that three-game series, outscoring the Minutmen, 28-9.
-- The Spiders won the most recent series with UMass in 2004. The Minutemen took the series opener in a one-run ballgame, 3-2, and the Spiders rebounded by taking the next two, outscoring UMass 25-7.
-- Richmond is currently two games back of the A-10 leaders Charlotte and Fordham. Both the 49ers and Rams opened Atlantic 10 play last weekend with three-game sweeps. Charlotte took three from George Washington and Fordham topped UMass in three-straight.
-- The Spiders have yet to duplicate any of their 22 batting orders this season.
-- Four of Richmond's seven wins this season have been in come-from-behind fashion. Three of the four come-from-behind efforts have taken place later than the sixth inning.
-- Richmond returns 19 of its 30 roster spots from the 2005 team, including five starting position players and seven pitchers who appeared in at least nine games.
-- Junior Rob Berzinskas is only the eighth pitcher in Spider history to record 200-plus strikeouts in his career.
-- Sophomore Ian Marshall, Saturday's probable starter, will also be making the second start of his career. Both Hale and Marshall have yet to start an A-10 game in their careers.
-- Junior Matt McKenna is the true definition of a utility player. The Richmond, Va., native has played seven of the nine fielding positions in his three-year career. He needs only to make an appearance at shortstop and centerfield to complete the rounds.
-- Richmond's best run-support for a starting pitcher this season continues to be for junior Rob Berzinskas. The Clinton, Conn., native has had a total of 37 runs scored during his starts for an average of 6.17 per start.
-- Senior Andrew Justice leads the team with 10 two-out RBI. The Henderson, N.C., native upped his previous mark by three this past Wednesday when he homered with two on against William & Mary. The Spiders have driven in a total of 26 with two outs, while opponents have 70 two-out RBI on the season.
-- Freshman Cameron Brown has a current hit streak of eight games. The Troy, N.Y., native's streak is the second-longest this season for the Spiders as senior Ben Zeskind hit safely in 10-straight earlier this season. Brown also has recorded multiple RBI in each of the last two.
-- Sophomore Joe Mahoney has recorded a total of 22 singles this season. Seven of those 22 have been infield singles, including a dribbler in the seventh inning against William & Mary this past Wednesday.
-- Two Richmond pitchers have earned Atlantic 10 Conference weekly honors. Junior Rob Berzinskas was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week, Feb. 20. Sophomore Stephen Owens earned Co-Pitcher of the Week honors, March 6.
-- The Spiders have only one lefthander on their staff, freshman Kyle Damm, who hales from The Peddie School and Hamilton Square, N.J.
Rain Delay Dooms Spiders At Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech scored eight of its nine runs following a 71 minute rain-delay in the bottom of the sixth, to top the Richmond Spider baseball squad, 9-6, at English Field in Blacksburg, Va., Tuesday afternoon. The non-conference loss dropped the Spiders to 6-15 overall, while the Hokies improved to 10-14 on the season. The Spiders held a 5-1 lead with one out in the bottom of the sixth when lightning halted the game at 4:54 p.m. Play was then resumed after 71-minute stoppage, as the Hokies came from behind for the win.
Spiders Go 1-2 In The Midwest
Changing the Atlantic 10 series to three nine-inning games did not matter to the Spiders and Saint Louis on opening weekend. Richmond travelled to the Show-Me state and ended up playing two sevens and a nine-inning game regardless, but it was spread out over three days. Richmond took the first of three by a score of 14-2, thanks to the 10-run rule being invoked after seven innings. The Billikens then returned the favor Saturday, winning 12-2 in seven innings. The teams then played nine full innings on the third and final day of the series as SLU won 8-3.
Late Rally Not Enough In Extra-Inning Loss To Hokies
Richmond kept chipping away at Virginia Tech's early four-run lead, but could not overcome the gap as Virginia Tech scored two in the 12th for a 7-5 win at Pitt Field, March 7. Virginia Tech scored four runs in the first and five over the first three, but Richmond battled back with a total of three in the seventh and eighth to tie the game. The Spiders inched their way closer in the seventh with an RBI single by Reilly and Zeskind's second sac-fly. In the eighth, Brown led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch and moved to second when sophomore Alex Hale reached on a error. A fielder's choice by McKenna moved Brown to the third, and put runners at first and third with one out. McKenna then tried a delayed steal which gave Brown the opportunity to race home for the game-tying run. Tech made Richmond pay for the blown chance in the 11th with two runs in the 12th off a total of three pitchers. Junior Kyle Damm came on to allow two singles and an error which led to the game-winning runs, 7-5.
Owens Named Atlantic 10 Co-Pitcher Of The Week
After tossing a seven shutout innings to earn his first win of the 2006 season, sophomore Stephen Owens was named the Atlantic 10 Conference's Co-Pitcher of the Week, officials announced March 6. The Sykesville, Md., native allowed just three hits in his third start of the season this past weekend against Yale. Owens, a 6-8 righthander, fanned four Bulldogs over a season-high seven innings Saturday, March 4. He gave up a two-out single in the first then retired 10 of the next 11 before Yale's second hit of the game came in the fifth inning. He went on to retire the next six before giving way to sophomore Brian Alas in the eighth.
Late-Inning Heroics Fall Short Against Tribe
Senior Andrew Justice redeemed himself by doubling in the tying and go-ahead runs in the top of the ninth, March 1, at William & Mary. The Henderson, N.C., native drove a ball down the leftfield line which landed on the top of the wall and bounced back into play. Prior to his final at-bat of the night he had gone 2-for-5 and stranded six. Two-straight singles tied the game and put a runner at third for William & Mary before a wild pitch allowed the winning run to score for the Tribe.
Croglio's Heroics Gives Spiders First Win
Freshman Victor Croglio capped a six-run seventh inning for the Spiders with a grand slam to straight-away centerfield, helping Richmond pickup its first win of the season, 10-9, over Delaware (1-1) Saturday, Feb. 25 at Pitt Field. After Delaware scored two in the top half of the seventh to take a 9-3 lead, the Spiders started the bottom half with a leadoff walk followed by four-straight hit batsmen. After the Blue Hens changed hurlers, Croglio came to the plate with the bases loaded and unleashed a shot to straight-away centerfield for his first-career homerun. The Fayetteville, N.Y., native, who had gone 2-for-15 until that at-bat, tied the game at 9-9 and eliminated a six-run Blue Hen lead. The four-run shot also marked the first grand slam for Richmond since Bryan Pritz did it against Xavier, May 2, 2004.
Berzinskas Honored By Atlantic 10 Conference
After limiting Nebraska to four hits and two run in six innings, Feb. 19, junior Rob Berzinskas was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Pitcher of the Week, Atlantic 10 officials announced Feb. 20. The Clinton, Conn., native left the ballgame after the Spiders had taken a 4-2 lead in the top half of the seventh, but did not figure in the decision. Berzinskas allowed two runs in Richmond's 12-inning, 5-4, loss to Nebraska, both of which came by way of homeruns. The Morgan School graduate fanned three and walked three in his six-inning outing.
Spider Baseball On ESPN Radio 950
As many as five Richmond Spider baseball contests will broadcast in the Richmond area on the new home of the Spiders, ESPN Radio 950 AM. Each of the Spiders' five home Atlantic 10 openers will be carried on the local Richmond station and will also be available on RichmondSpiders.com. Games to be broadcast over the airwaves include: March 31 - UMass, April 7 - Dayton, April 21 - Duquesne, April 28 - Saint Joseph's and May 12 - George Washington.
