University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Head North To League-Leading Fordham
04/13/2006 | Baseball
April 13, 2006
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Richmond, now five games back in the Atlantic 10 standings, will be looking to close the gap this weekend when it travels to the Bronx to face league-leading Fordham (16-17, 8-1) in a three-game series. First pitch Friday, April 14, has been bumped up to 11 a.m., while the two teams will play a doubleheader at noon, Saturday, April 15 to accomodate the Easter holiday weekend.
Senior Ja Jones (Friday), sophomore Alex Hale (Game 1-Saturday) and freshman Ian Marshall (Game 2-Saturday) will take the mound for the Spiders in a revamped weekend rotation. The Spiders will try to slow down opponent offenses, as last Friday's series-opener against Dayton included 44 total runs on 43 total hits. Jones and Hale both started games against Dayton last weekend and combined to give up just four runs (three earned) in 13 innings. Marshall served as a reliever Sunday against Dayton and allowed one run over two, before surrendering four in the ninth to pick up the loss.
Junior Vince Riggi is carrying the hot bat for the Spiders. The Saratoga Springs, N.Y., native has a hit in each of the last 12, and drove in a career-best four Wednesday at VMI. Riggi has split time between the DH spot and leftfield since returning from a leg injury March 29. He has recorded five multi-hit games in the string and has driven in at least one in seven of the last 12.
Quick Notes...
-- Junior Vince Riggi has hit safely in each of the last 12 games he has played. He returned to the Richmond lineup March 29 against William & Mary and has recorded five multi-hit games in the string of 12-straight. In his last game, he tied a career-high with three hits and drove in a career-best four RBI.
-- Sophomore Joe Mahoney leads the team with 14 multi-hit games, including two-straight. The Troy, N.Y., native leads the team with a .366 average.
-- Richmond pinch-hitters are 8-for-35 (.229), while Spider pitchers have yet to allow a pinch-hitter to reach.
-- The Spiders will be playing at Fordham for first time since 2002. Richmond and the Rams played in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference last season, as the Spiders won a 13-inning contest, 4-1.
-- Richmond is 6-2 all-time against the Rams, and have won the last three. The Spiders swept the only series in the Bronx in 2002, winning by scores of 5-1, 6-5 and 6-5.
-- Junior Vince Riggi is currently tied for the longest hit streak of the season for the Spiders. His current 12-game streak equals freshman Cameron Brown's previous long hit streak of 12 games.
-- Senior Ben Zeskind has a 10-game hit streak heading into the weekend series.
-- Richmond must score at least six runs to win this season. Thus far, the Spiders are 0-16 when scoring five runs or less.
-- The Spiders have raised their team batting average in each month of the season. Richmond is hitting .295 in April, up from .288 in March and .213 in February.
-- Senior Ja Jones, sophomore Alex Hale and freshman Ian Marshall will combine to make up a completely new weekend rotation for the Spiders. Jones will be making his third start of the season, Hale will go in his fourth and Marshall will be making his fourth career start.
-- Junior Matt McKenna is the true definition of a utility player. The Richmond, Va., native has played eight of the nine fielding positions in his three-year career. He needs only to make an appearance in centerfield to complete the rounds.
-- Senior Andrew Justice leads the team with 15 two-out RBI. He is currently 13-for-35 when hitting with two outs (.351).
-- The Spiders have only one lefthander on their staff, freshman Kyle Damm, who hales from The Peddie School and Hamilton Square, N.J.
-- Fordham will be hosting the 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament later this season at Houlihan Park. The top six teams advance to the postseason gathering, as the Spiders are currently five games back of the league-leading Rams in the A-10 standings.
-- Sophomore Joe Mahoney (2-for-6) and seniors Ben Zeskind (2-for-5) led the Spiders last season in Richmond's 13-inning win over Fordham in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Mahoney's RBI-single in the top half of the 13th began a three-run inning for the Spiders which was capped Justice's RBI-single to score Mahoney. Sophomore Brian Alas came on in relief of junior Rob Berzinskas to limit the Rams to one run in six innings.
Richmond And Dayton Run Up The Score
It was not a typical Friday night college baseball game at Pitt Field, April 7. The Spiders and Flyers combined to score 44 runs on 43 hits, as Dayton won 27-17 in a game which lasted 4:01. Ten total pitchers gave up a combined five game-tying RBI, six go-ahead RBI, three game-tying homeruns, four go-ahead homers and seven total homers. The two teams combined to record eight hit by pitches, marking the fourth-most in a single game in NCAA history. Spider pitchers hit seven batters which was also marked the fourth-most HBP's in a single game in NCAA history.
Riggi Named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week
Junior Vince Riggi capped off his return to the Spider lineup with a 7-for-14 week, earning himself Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career, April 3. The Saratoga Spring, N.Y., native returned to the designated hitter spot against William & Mary, March 29, after missing 13-straight with a nagging leg injury. Riggi opened his return with three-straight multi-hit games, including two in Atlantic 10 play against Massachusetts. The junior, who finished the week with a .500 average going 7-for-14 with three doubles, also garnered College Baseball Foundation Honor Roll recognition for his week's performance.
Spiders Garner First A-10 Series Win
Richmond scored a total of 34 runs in three games to win a three-game series over Atlantic 10 foe UMass. The Spiders outscored the Minutemen 34-26 in the three-game series, while each team slugged three homers at Pitt Field. The Spiders bookended the UMass series with nine runs against William & Mary (3/29) and 13 runs against James Madison (4/4), marking a total of 56 runs in five games.
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 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.
