University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Massachusetts
Spiders Rally, But Fall In Extra Innings At UMass, 5-4
05/04/2007 | Baseball
May 4, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - Visiting Richmond rallied for the equalizer with four runs in the top of ninth but fell to Massachusetts, 5-4, in 10 innings Friday afternoon at Earl Lorden Field. Joe White belted a three-run homer in the ninth for the Spiders, but an RBI single by the Minutemen's Travis Muncey in the 10th-inning was the game-winner.
The loss drops the Spiders to 26-20 overall, 14-5 in the Atlantic 10. The Minutemen, who have won six straight overall and four consecutive in the A-10, improve to 18-18, 10-9. Game two of series is set for Saturday at noon.
Trailing 4-0 heading into the final frame, Vince Riggi drew a leadoff walk followed by Hank Coogan reaching on a fielding error. White then stepped to the plate and lifted a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right field - the first career home run for the junior Richmond native - to pull the Spiders within a run at 4-3. Another UMass error allowed Matt McKenna to reach. He moved to second on a ground out, to third on a fly out and scored the tying run off a Benji Marshall RBI single.
The game went extra innings, not before a last-minute charge by the Minutemen saw them load the bases in the bottom of the ninth. But Brian Alas fanned Bryan Garrity swinging with a full-count to send the game to extra innings.
After the Spiders went down in order in the top of the 10th, Bill Rankin got UMass started with a single to center off Alas. Brian Baudinet moved him over with a sac bunt. Rankin was the winning run, scoring from second on Muncey's second hit of the game. For Alas (3-1), it marks his first defeat of the season.
The Richmond bats were silenced until the ninth, thanks to a gem by starting pitcher Chris Lloyd. Although his bid for a complete-game shutout was cut short by Richmond's ninth-inning rally, Lloyd went eight innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs.
White's homer chased Lloyd for Bryan Adamski, who gave up the tying run but got credit with the victory.
Alex Wotring's three hits led the Spiders' eight-hit attack. White was two-for-three.
The Minutemen put a run on the board in each of third and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead. A sloppy defensive inning by the Spiders in the eighth saw UMass tack on two additional unearned runs. Richmond, who entered the weekend as the A-10's best fielding team, committed three of its five errors that inning.
But ironically, it was two defensive plays in the ninth that limited the damage to just two runs. After Rankin drew a bases-loaded walk off Mark Terranova to plate the fourth UMass run with no outs and the bases loaded, Victor Croglio fired home from short to gun down Ryan Franczek at the plate. Terranova triggered a 1-2-3 double play in the next at-bat to get Richmond out of further trouble.
The Spiders are now 1-2 in extra-inning games this season.
