University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Radford
Big First Inning Leads Radford Past Richmond, 9-3
05/08/2007 | Baseball
May 8, 2007
RADFORD, Va. - Richmond allowed Radford to score five times in the fist inning and fell on the road Tuesday afternoon at Dedmon Center Park, 9-3. Joe Mahoney swatted his league-leading 15th home run of the season in the defeat. The Spiders remain on the road tomorrow with a 4 p.m. game at James Madison.
The Highlanders wasted little time in cracking the scoreboard, putting five across with just one out in the first inning. Jonathan Spears hit a three-run homer in the inning as Radford collected five hits in the frame and four in a row.
Richmond (28-21) sophomore Ian Marshall was touched up in his first appearance in over a month as the sophomore has been on the shelf with an injury. His work was limited to just the first inning.
Marshall gave way to Chris Sullivan, who pitched effectively out of the bullpen. He went 5.2 innings of one-run, five-hit baseball, which included a called third strike to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning.
Mahoney broke up Radford starter Kyle Starr's shutout bit in the fourth with a monster home run over the wall in right center field. The solo shot was the 15th of the season for the A-10's leader in homers.
The Spiders continued to chip away, getting two more back in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3. Austin Reilly led the inning off with a single and was driven in with Victor Croglio's second hit of the game and first triple of the season. Croglio scored on Alex Wotring's ground out.
Richmond could get no closer and Radford (9-29) tacked on insurance with three more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth. Rocky Weiss had a two-RBI single in the seventh.
Croglio finished the day two-for-four with an RBI and run scored. Five different Spider pitchers saw action in the non-conference contest and Marshall was tagged with the loss. Starr went five innings, scattered four hits with four strikeouts and a walk to earn the victory.
The Spiders are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a 4 p.m. game at James Madison. Richmond's eight-game road trip - its longest of the season - concludes this weekend with an Atlantic 10 series at Saint Joseph's.
