University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
*at Fordham
Spiders Split Doubleheader; Win Series At Fordham
04/15/2006 | Baseball
April 15, 2006
BRONX, N.Y. - Sophomore Alex Hale gave up two hits in eight innings, and sophomore Brian Alas closed the contest with a no-hit ninth to give the Spider baseball squad an Atlantic 10 series win over Fordham Saturday in Bronx, N.Y. Richmond went on to fall in the final game of the day on a ninth-inning wild pitch, but improved to 12-23 overall and 5-7 in the Atlantic 10 with the series win. Fordham drops to 17-19 on the season and 9-3 in the A-10.
GAME 1
Richmond took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first after junior Alex Wotring tripled with one out and came around to score on a groundout by sophomore Joe Mahoney.
Fordham took back the lead in the third with two unearned runs thanks to two errors on the Spiders. Hale worked into the eighth, facing the minimum over the next four. He did not allow a baserunner past first the rest of the way, finishing the day by giving up just two hits and one walk while fanning eight.
The Spiders tied the game in the sixth on another groundout, this time by sophomore Hank Coogan. Richmond later took the lead back for Hale in the eighth by scoring two unearned runs of it own. Junior Vince Riggi singled with runners at second and third to garner the two RBI.
The Spiders tacked on three more insurance runs in the ninth thanks to a solo homer from senior Ben Zeskind and run-scoring hits by senior Andrew Justice and another from Coogan. Alas came on in the ninth and allowed one baserunner with two outs, but got the final out of the inning on a pop-up to second base -- final score 7-2.
GAME 2
The Spiders, who had already one the series, chipped away at leads held by Fordham in game two, but a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth gave Fordham its lone win of the series. Freshman Ian Marshall allowed a go-ahead unearned run in the first on a sac-fly to fall behind 1-0. Richmond fought back to tie it in the top half of the third when Wotring scored from first on a fielding error by the Fordham centerfielder.
Marshall was not able to hang on as the Rams plated three in their half of the third thanks to another error as well as a sac-fly and RBI-double.
The Spiders continued to chip away scoring two in the fifth, and finally taking a lead with three in the seventh. A balk and RBI-single from freshman Cameron Brown helped post the fifth-inning runs. Brown accounted for two of the runs in the seventh on a one-out double, while Riggi drove in the third run on a sac-fly to left.
Marshall made it into the seventh and got two outs before Richmond brought in senior Derek Duclos. The Exton, Pa., native, who came in with two out and two on, hit the first batter he faced, but stranded all three by getting the final out of the inning on a flyout to center.
Richmond added two more in the eighth for an 8-5 lead thanks to sac-fly from junior Matt McKenna and another from Brown. Fordham would not go away plating three in the bottom half to knot the game at 8-8. A sac-fly, runs-scoring triple and wild pitch from freshman reliever Kyle Damm allowed the Rams back in the game.
The Spiders were unable to get anything going in the ninth, while Fordham loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth. Freshman Kyle Leith gave up the game-winner on a wild pitch, falling 9-8 in the finale.
The Spiders will end their current roadtrip Tuesday, April 18, when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to face James Madison at 3 p.m.
