University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Fordham
Mahoney Homers Twice To Lead Richmond Past Fordham, 13-6
04/28/2007 | Baseball
April 28, 2007
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Joe Mahoney hit a pair of home runs, including a grand slam in the fourth inning, in leading Richmond to a 13-6 win over Fordham at Pitt Field on Saturday afternoon. Mahoney finished with a career-best eight RBIs as the Spiders maintained their grip on second place in the Atlantic 10. The rubber-match of the three-game series is set for Sunday at noon.
The win improves Richmond to 26-18 overall, 14-3 in the A-10 and sets the Spiders up to win their sixth straight conference series tomorrow at Pitt Field. Richmond has not won six conference sets in succession since the 2003 season. Fordham falls to 22-18, 10-7.
In two games versus Fordham, Mahoney has driven in 10 runs with five hits, three homers and scored four times. He has 22 RBIs in Richmond's last eight A-10 games.
Matt McKenna stayed hot for Richmond going three-for-five with a homer, two RBI and a run scored. The senior from nearby Benedictine High School, has had at least one hit and driven in at least a run in five consecutive games.
"I was really happy with how be bounced back after yesterday," said head coach Ron Atkins. "We put 13 runs on the board with 11 hits and we're really being patient at the plate."
The game was tied at 2-2 in the fourth inning when Mahoney stepped in and cleared the bases with a majestic fly ball that landed in the parking lot outside the right field fence at Pitt Field.
Chris Kaible, who collected three more RBI today and now has 10 for the weekend, wasted little time in answering for the Rams as he roped a three-run homer in the top of the fifth. A solo shot from P.J. Como that same inning quickly knotted the score at 6-6.
The Spiders would answer right back - this time for good - tacking four more runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Richmond did all its game-deciding damage with two outs in the inning after Martinez retired the first two. But a walk to Austin Reilly, a single by Victor Croglio and another Benji Marshall walk loaded the bases and chased the Rams' starter.
Ryan Sheflott came on in relief and rolled an infield ground ball, but a costly error at third allowed Reilly to score and kept the inning alive. Mahoney walked in another run and Vince Riggi singled through the left side to score two more. All the runs in the inning were unearned.
Alex Hale (7-2) went seven innings to record his team-leading seventh win of the season. He struck out four with five walks, six runs and nine hits. Brian Alas pitched the final two innings, giving up three hits, in a non-save situation.
"I thought that if Hale got us seven innings today that we'd get a win," said Atkins. "He didn't have his best stuff today, but he threw strikes and let our defense make some plays behind him."
Martinez (6-4) was roughed up in his 4.2 innings of work. He was tagged with the loss after allowing six walks, nine runs (six earned) and seven hits.
Mahoney smacked his second homer of the day, third of the weekend and team-leading 13th of the season, giving Richmond some insurance in the seventh inning. After Marshall drew a leadoff walk and Alex Wotring beat out a bunt single, Mahoney hit a laser over the fence in right.
For Mahoney, it marked his second multi-homer game and first grand slam of the season. Riggi's walk-off grand slam versus George Mason and another versus Old Dominion are the Spiders' other four-run homers in 2007.
Jordan Lert singled through the left side to put Fordham on the board first in the top of the first inning. Eric Reese drew a walk to get things started and then stole second. Hale fanned the next two, but Lert sliced a ball down the line in left to plate Reese from second.
Kaible led off Fordham's half of the second inning with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. A Brian Kenney sac fly brought him home. Kaible finished three-for-five and scored twice.
A two-out rally by the Spiders in the bottom of the second cut the lead in half. McKenna stretched his hitting streak to five games with a solo home run to left center field. Joe White doubled down the left field line in the next at bat, followed by back-to-back walks to Reilly and Croglio that loaded the bases. But Martinez weaseled his way out of trouble by working Marshall into a ground out.
McKenna factored in the equalizer at 2-2 as he roped an infield single to score Wotring, who drew a lead off walk in the inning.
