University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
at James Madison
Wotring's Blast Lifts Spiders To Come-From-Behind Win At James Madison, 13-10
04/18/2006 | Baseball
April 18, 2006
HARRISONBURG, Va. - Junior Alex Wotring gave the Spider baseball squad a come-from-behind win Tuesday in Harrisonburg, Va., when he hit the first grand slam of his career to lift Richmond to a 13-10 win over James Madison. The Spiders, 13-23 overall, erased a six-run JMU lead in the seventh, then had to erase a one-run Duke lead in the ninth for the victory. The Dukes fall to 25-15 overall, after junior Benji Marshall (1-0) picked up his first career win in relief and sophomore Brian Alas recorded his second save. Freshman Kyle Leith will go for the Spiders Wednesday when they host Liberty at Pitt Field. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.
After surrendering six runs on seven hits in the first two, senior Derek Duclos settled in to retire four of the final five he faced, including two punchouts. Duclos ended his fifth start of the season by allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk, striking out two.
Senior Jason Bolinski came on in the fourth and allowed two hits, but stranded three runners to end the inning. He recorded the first out of the fifth, before freshman Kyle Damm was brought on to fan two of the next three.
Richmond's offense, which is now hitting .283 on the season, came alive with a total of nine runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh to take a 9-6 lead. Senior Ben Zeskind and freshman Cameron Brown drove in fifth-inning runs with singles while senior Andrew Justice doubled in a run in the inning. Junior Matt McKenna homered to leadoff the sixth and was followed by RBI-singles from sophomore Joe Mahoney and another from Brown, this time knotting the game at 6-6. A run-scoring double off the bat of freshman Victor Croglio gave Richmond the lead in the seventh, and Zeskind added two more with his fourth dinger of the season. Zeskind's homerun also marked the second roundtripper he has hit in the last three games and third in the last five contests.
Damm got into trouble in the bottom half of the seventh by giving up a two-out RBI-single. Senior Wyatt Stewart came on and allowed a walk, but two infield errors gave James Madison the lead on three more runs, all of which were unearned.
The Spiders went down quietly in the eighth, while Marshall came on in the bottom half to allow two hits, but stranded one. The last of the inning was highlighted by a 9-2 putout at the plate on a single to rightfield. McKenna tossed a dart from the rightfield line into home where sophomore Hank Coogan applied the tag to a runner trying to score from second.
Richmond took its second and final lead of the game in the ninth. McKenna walked and was moved over on a sac-bunt from sophomore Austin Reilly. A single to left, and error on the leftfielder allowed Croglio to move to second and McKenna to advance to third. The Dukes elected to intentionally walk Zeskind to keep the double-play intact, but Wotring made them pay. The Bethesda, Md., native sent a 1-0 fastball over the rightfield wall for a grand slam plating the game-tying and go-ahead runs for Richmond.
Alas gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, then, after a sun-aided double to left put runners at second and third, he struckout the third batter of the inning. With one out and runners still at second and third, Alas got a groundball right back at the box. He froze the runner at third then fired it to Mahoney at first for the initial out, Mahoney then relayed it on to Coogan at home who applied another tag to the runner trying score on the play, ending the game at 13-10.
Richmond returns to Pitt Field Wednesday to host Liberty at 3 p.m. The contest will mark the first of four-straight at home for the Spiders, as Richmond will welcome Duquesne to Mac Pitt this weekend for an Atlantic 10 Conference series. First pitch against the Dukes Friday is slated for 3 p.m.
Game Notes
-- Richmond swept the season series with James Madison, 2-0, as both games finished with 13-10 scores.
-- Junior Alex Wotring grand slam in the ninth was the first of his career. The homer was his team-leading fifth of the season.
-- Junior Benji Marshall earned his first career win in only his second career appearance.
-- Sophomore Brian Alas garnered his team-leading second save of the season.
-- Richmond's team batting average of .283 is the highest it has been this season.
-- Senior Ben Zeskind two-run homer in the seventh was the second dinger he has hit in the last three games, and third in the last five games.
-- The Spiders came back from a six-run deficit in the seventh and a one-run deficit in the ninth.
