University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
George Washington
Richmond Baseball Threatens Late But Falls To Colonials, 6-5
03/30/2008 | Baseball
March 30, 2008
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond baseball team stranded the tying run at third base in the ninth inning and fell to George Washington, 6-5, Sunday afternoon at Pitt Field. A two-hit, two-RBI performance from Evan Stehle and 5.1 solid innings from reliever Jared Bard were not enough for the Spiders to take the rubber-match of the three-game set.
Stehle finished the day batting two-for-three with his two-RBI double in the first inning. Joe White and Andrew Lowry each contributed two of the Spiders' 13 hits in the game, while Derek Boliek and Chris Cuppia had an RBI apiece.
The loss dropped the Spiders to 12-14-1 overall, 4-2 in the Atlantic 10, while the Colonials improved to 14-10, 4-2.
Trailing 6-4 heading to the bottom of ninth, pinch-hitter Austin Reilly stretched his hitting streak to nine games when he ripped a lead-off double down the left field line. Lowry laced his single up the middle in the next at bat, and the Spiders had runners at the corners with no out.
But GW closer Jimmy Duggan went to work and rolled a ground out from Hank Coogan to score Reilly, followed by another ground-ball out from Ryan Metzroth to move Lowry to third. He sealed the victory by setting Billy Barber down on strikes to end it.
"We had a chance to win," said head coach Mark McQueen. "I just wish we could have gotten the bats going earlier in the ball game."
The visitors chased starter Matt Trent after the sophomore allowed five runs (three earned) in the first two innings, but Richmond stayed within striking distance thanks to clutch relief performances from Bard and Daniel Clark.
Bard scattered four hits over 5.1 innings with no earned runs and five strikeouts, while Clark fanned two in the final 1.2 innings of scoreless, no-hit work.
"I thought that was Jared's best performance of the season," said McQueen. "He did a great job of keeping the hitters off-balance and was able to work himself out of some jams."
With two on and no outs in the fifth, Bard rolled a 6-4-3 double play and fanned Andrew Haberern to end the inning. He fanned two after the Colonials had put runners at the corners with one out in the seventh inning.
GW jumped on Trent with three runs in the first and two more in the second inning, ending the sophomore's day after a lead-off walk in the third. But thanks to Stehle's two-RBI double in the bottom of the first, Richmond turned the game over to Bard trailing just 5-2.
Richmond tagged GW starter Pat Lehman for two runs on four hits in the fourth inning, trimming the lead to 5-4. Stehle and White led off with singles and later scored on consecutive singles from Boliek and Cuppia.
Lehman made quick work of the Spiders over the next three innings and turned it over to his bullpen with two outs in the eighth. Bobby Lucas got the final out of the inning and Duggan took over after the back-to-back hits from Reilly and Lowry in the ninth.
The GW starter went 7.2 innings with 10 strikeouts and four runs to remain undefeated this season (4-0), while Duggan recorded his fourth save. Trent (1-2) was tagged with the loss.
After eight consecutive at home, the Spiders begin a nine-game road swing Tuesday night at VMI. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. in a game that can be heard live on ESPN Radio 950 in Richmond.
