University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Wichita State
Spiders Shock No. 11 Wichita State, 11-10
03/02/2007 | Baseball
March 2, 2007
WICHITA, Kan. - The Richmond baseball team became just the second team to spoil Wichita State's home opener in the last 30 seasons, handing the No. 11 ranked Shockers an 11-10 setback on Friday in front of 3,033 fans at Eck Stadium.
Wichita State was 28-1 in home openers under head coach Gene Stephenson, who has the highest active winning percentage in the country and is second in NCAA history in wins. But the Spiders spoiled the legendary coach's 30th home opener.
"Usually you don't come out here and beat these guys," Richmond head coach Ron Atkins said. "We got ahead and we just had some big hits when we needed and pulled it out. (Wichita State) put the ball in play but we played really good defense. We had two errors, but we played outstanding defense and turned some good double plays when had to."
The Spiders, who have won four-straight games, led 5-0 after three innings and 7-1 after the top of the fourth inning. After Wichita State closed the gap to 7-6, Richmond used a two-run double by senior Alex Wotring and a RBI-single by junior Joe Mahoney to score three runs in the seventh and take an 11-6 lead.
The No. 11 ranked Shockers (8-4) plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but junior Brian Alas came got out of the inning without further damage with a double play and retired the last seven batters he faced to get his first save of the season. He would allow two hits and two runs in three innings of work.
"Once he got out of the seventh, he was fine," Atkins said. "Those last two innings he put up zeros to get us the win."
The Spiders belted out a season-high 17 hits, getting to Wichita State ace Aaron Shafer for nine hits and seven runs.
Mahoney was the offensive standout, going 4-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored. He was a triple shy of the cycle with his second home run of the season, a double and two singles.
"Mahoney was the key to the game for us," Atkins said. "He's swinging it pretty well right now."
Sophomore Alex Wotring had a double, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Richmond starter Alex Hale lasted into the seventh inning on a cold and windy. Through four innings he had allowed single runs in the third and fourth innings, but Wichita State pushed across four runs in the fifth inning. With Richmond leading 11-6 in the seventh, Hale allowed a lead-off single and walked a batter, before being relieved by Alas.
"Hale gave up a couple walks, hit a few guys with two strikes, but he pitched well," Atkins said. "They're a good hitting ball club. They had two big innings, that hurt us."
Richmond jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Coogan reached on an error, Justice singled and sophomore Victor Croglio came through with a two-out RBI-double for a 1-0 lead. Reilly then followed with a two-out two-run single.
The Spiders came right back in the top of the third with two more runs, starting with a lead-off homer by Mahoney. Brown and Coogan followed with back-to-back singles and senior Vince Riggi was hit by a pitch. Justice gave Richmond a 5-0 lead with a RBI-groundout to third.
Wichita State got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third, but Richmond answered with two more runs in the top of the fourth. With two outs and nobody on, Mahoney singled and Brown hit a double to left-center field for a 6-1 lead. Coogan singled Brown to third, where he would score on a passed ball, giving Richmond a 7-1 lead on the No. 11 ranked team in the nation.
The Shockers scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and then used the four-run fifth inning to close the gap to 7-6. Richmond got some breathing room in the top of the sixth when Wotring and Mahoney drew back-to-back walks to open the inning and Brown singled to right to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Coogan made it 8-6.
Singles by Justice, McKenna and Reilly set up the two-run double by McKenna and the RBI-single by Mahoney that opened up an 11-6 Richmond lead.
The Shockers scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh and trailed 11-10 with the bases loaded and one out. Alas induced the next batter into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, one of three double plays the Spiders turned on the day.
"We're starting to play better, we're getting a little confidence," Atkins said. "We got to come out tomorrow and do the same thing."
The Spiders and Shockers play the second game of three-game set Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
