University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
La Salle
Spiders Win Sixth-Consecutive And Sweep A-10 Opener From La Salle
03/22/2008 | Baseball
March 22, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Visiting La Salle led 3-0 with a no-hitter in the fifth, but Richmond's Chris Cuppia broke it up and the Spiders poured on four runs to take the lead and win 6-4 at Pitt Field Sunday afternoon. The victory -- Richmond's sixth-consecutive -- helped the Spiders sweep the Atlantic 10 series and improve to 11-11-1 overall.
Defending A-10 Rookie of the Year Matt Zielinski pitched the final 4.2 innings to pick up his first victory and lift Richmond to 3-0 in the A-10. La Salle slipped to 4-18, 0-3.
Cuppia came up big on both sides of the ball, triggering a pair of key double plays at second base and finishing the day two-for-three with a steal. The Roswell, Ga. native broke up starter Kevin Fuqua's no-hitter in the fifth inning, which ignited the Spiders' four-run frame, and his two-RBI single in the seventh gave Richmond much-needed insurance runs.
Richmond starter Matt Trent cruised through four innings, but allowed three runs in the fifth and was replaced by Zielinski, who finished off the Explorers and lifted Richmond to its fifth conference-opening sweep since joining the A-10 in 2001.
"This was a great team effort today," said head coach Mark McQueen. "Chris obviously came up big for us with a couple key hits and the two double plays he turned. And I liked the way Trent and Zielinski pitched. They challenged hitters and kept up in the ball game until our offense got going."
Trent and Fuqua were locked up in pitchers' duel over the first four innings, with each hurling shutouts and Fuqua working on a no-hitter. Trent allowed three hits over the first four innings and was aided by a pair of timely twin killings.
With a runner at first and one out in the second, Mike Canfarotta roped a line drive to Cuppia, who stabbed it out of the air and doubled off the base runner. Cuppia flashed some leather again in the third when he doubled off Rick Gehman at second on a line out, after he doubled with one out.
"We're getting contributions from all over our line up right now," said McQueen. "It doesn't have to be Barber, Coogan, Metzroth or Hale all the time for us to be successful. Our guys have worked very hard over the past six games to get back to .500 and I like the mindset right now."
Barber was held hitless in four at-bats and Metzroth missed the game with an injury, marking the tenth Spider starter to miss a game due to injury or illness this season. Cuppia was in the lineup due to Austin Reilly's illness
La Salle's Brian Meagher ended the shutout with a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning and Trent was knocked out five batters later after he loaded the bases with one out. Zielinski came on, although walking in a run, worked a line out and a fielders' choice to minimize the damage
Cuppia's one-out single through the left side broke up the no-hitter and the Spiders kept the pressure on with a double from Andrew Lowry and an infield single from Hank Coogan to load the bases. Two runs scored when Evan Stehle reached on an error and two more came home on consecutive hits from Mike Mergenthaler and Ryan Grant.
The base knocks from Coogan and Mergenthaler extended the duos hitting streaks to 14 and 13, respectively. Lowry had two of the Spiders' eight hits.
Richmond tacked on two important insurance runs in the seventh thanks to Cuppia's single to left field to make the score 6-3, while Zielinski made quick work of the Explorers in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
Hampered by an early-season injury, Zielinski was making his first appearance since Feb. 29 and scattered three hits over 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and an earned run allowed in the ninth. The sophomore improved to 1-0 in just his second career relief appearance.
The Spiders remain home next week for four games, beginning with Wednesday's match-up versus Brown. The defending Ivy League champs roll into Pitt Field for a 3 p.m. contest.
