University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
St. Bonaventure
Hale's Gem, Mahoney's Grand Slam Lead Richmond Past Bona, 8-2, in A-10 Championship Opening Round
05/23/2007 | Baseball
May 23, 2007
DAYTON, Ohio - Alex Hale pitched a gem and Joe Mahoney hit a towering grand slam to lead the Richmond baseball team to an 8-2 victory over St. Bonaventure in the Opening Round of the Atlantic 10 Championship Wednesday afternoon in Dayton, Ohio. The third-seeded Spiders advance to quarterfinals and face second-seeded Fordham Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Cameron Brown went three-for-four with a run and two RBIs and eight of the nine Spiders in the lineup had a hit as they pounded out 10 in the game.
Hale went 7.1 innings allowing just one run on five hits with six strikeouts in winning his team-leading eighth game of the season. The Omaha, Neb. native was coming off an elbow injury which forced him to leave the Saint Joseph's game early two weeks ago and miss the Charlotte series.
"I knew my elbow would be tight early on," said Hale. "So I knew I couldn't overpower people. I just tried to keep the ball down, get some ground balls and my defense made some great plays behind me." The Spiders drew first blood with a run in the first, thanks to a one-out triple from Alex Wotring and an RBI fielders' choice from Vince Riggi.
The Bonnies starter Jim Britton set Richmond down in order in the second, but ran into trouble in decisive third inning, allowing Victor Croglio and Benji Marshall to lead off with singles. Wotring walked to load the bases and Britton hung a pitch to Mahoney who bombed the ball over the fence in deep right field.
For Mahoney, it was his conference-leading 17th homer this season and second grand slam.
"Obviously a big win," said head coach Ron Atkins. "Hale pitched great for us, he got us into the seventh inning and that's what we needed. We played great defensively behind him and we got timely hitting too."
Richmond tacked on one more in the sixth with Brown's RBI single that scored Riggi to make it 6-0.
With two on and one out in the top of the seventh, Croglio and Marshall combined for a dazzling 6-4-3 double play to retire the side and end the Bonnies' threat.
A Matt McKenna double in the eighth and another RBI single from Brown, answered the first Bonnies' run in the top of the frame. They tacked on more in the ninth thanks to a bases loaded sac fly from Brian Pellegrini.
Pellegrino, the A-10 Player of the Year, batted .392 this season with 15 homers, but went 0-for-3 today. Brian Alas came on in relief of Hale after one out in the seventh and then got himself out of that bases loaded jam in the eighth with just a run.
"Fordham will be rested and ready to play tomorrow," said Atkins. "That's the benefit of having the bye. But we need the same approach we had today and keep swinging the bats. We have to take it one game at a time."
