University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
William & Mary
Barber Hits Two Homers As Spiders Rally To Beat Tribe, 7-6
03/11/2008 | Baseball
March 11, 2008
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Freshman Billy Barber belted a pair of home runs in helping Richmond rally from an early 5-2 deficit and beat William & Mary, 7-6, Tuesday in Williamsburg. Barber connected on a two-run bomb in the first and a solo shot in the fifth to help the Spiders snap a three-game skid. Richmond remains on the road Wednesday with a 3 p.m. game at Duke.
Jared Bard pitched 3.2 shutout innings with three hits in relief to pick up his first collegiate victory while Alex Hale shutdown the Tribe in the ninth to post the save. Every Spider in the lineup had at least a hit as Richmond pounded out 13 in the victory.
"I was proud of the way we came out after what happened this weekend," said head coach Mark McQueen. "Billy had a big day obviously and (Anthony) Cafagna gave us another quality start. He allowed us to get to our bullpen, which has been pitching well."
Barber finished two-for-five with three RBIs and scored twice. His two-run homer with two outs in the first spotted the Spiders an early 2-0 lead and marked the fourth time in the last five games the Red and Blue have drawn first blood.
But the Tribe answered in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to five runs, five hits and one Richmond error to claim a three-run advantage. Lanny Stanfield ripped a two-RBI single up the middle and Tyler Stampone doubled to score two more. Two of the five runs off freshman starter Anthony Cafagna were unearned.
The Spiders (5-9-1) took the lead back for good by scoring five runs over the middle three innings to hand the Tribe (11-4) just their fourth loss of the season. Cafangna went 4.1 innings with three earned runs, a strikeout and no walks.
"Bard and Hale were the keys for us," said McQueen. "They put zeros on the board and allowed our offense to put up some runs."
Richmond threatened in the fourth, getting its first hit of the game with less than two outs but could muster just one run. Evan Stehle singled to lead off the inning and Mike Mergenthaler doubled with one out later in the inning. With two in scoring position, Chris Cuppia's sac fly plated Stehle and starter Tim Norton pitched his way out of further trouble.
Barber hit his second home run of the game in the fifth inning, helping the Spiders crawl one run closer. It could have been more, but a timely double play turned by the Tribe after Hank Coogan reached as the lead off batter minimized the damage.
Austin Reilly was hit by the first pitch of the sixth inning and Cuppia drew a walk on four consecutive pitches, ending Carl Kleinhenn's relief appearance after just five pitches.
Pat Kantakevich would eventually take the loss after allowing an Andrew Lowry single to score Reilly. Coogan then dropped a sac bunt to move Cuppia and Lowry as the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position and both scored after Ryan Metzroth's grounder to first was thrown away trying to gun down Cuppia at the plate.
Just four of the Tribe's 15 hits came in the last half of the game.
Richmond, which is in the midst of five-straight games away from Pitt Field, is at Duke Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m
