University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Host Purple Eagles On 2009 Baseball Opening Weekend
02/20/2009 | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2009
RICHMOND - The University of Richmond baseball team opens its 95th season of competition this weekend, hosting Niagara University in a three-game series that begins Saturday at Pitt Field. The Spiders and Purple Eagles play a doubleheader Saturday at noon, with a single-game Sunday at noon.
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• The Spiders return six starting position players and four starting pitchers from last year's team, which finished with a 20-31-2 overall mark and a 10-16-1 record in the Atlantic 10. But just two of those returning regulars are seniors -- RF Ryan Metzroth and RHP Josh Horn. There are 23 letterwinners back from last year's team.
• Injuries plagued the Spiders during its 2008 season -- the first season under head coach Mark McQueen. In the first 15 games of the season, Richmond lost its starting SS (Victor Croglio), its starting 3B (Cameron Brown), two starting pitchers (Ian Marshall and Brian Farrell) and its closer (Brian Alas) for the season.
• Marshall, coming off the injury that limited him to just 20.0 innings last season, will toe the rubber in Game One. The redshirt junior was 3-2 as a freshman and 4-4 as a sophomore, surpassing 45 innings in each of those seasons.
• Junior LHP Matt Zielinski is slated for the Game Two start and is coming off a 5-2 season in which he led the team in ERA (4.72). Zielinski, who is 10-4 versus the A-10 in his career, pitched in the Cape Cod League this summer for the league champion Harwich Mariners.
• Junior C Evan Stehle, from nearby Monacan High, was a Preseason All-Conference selection by both Baseball America and Yahoo! Sports/Rivals.com. Stehle batted .317 last season with six homers and 40 RBI.
• Sophomore DH Cameron Brown in 2006 and Zielinski in 2007.
• With 28 career saves, senior close Brian Alas is two shy of tying the school record held by John Cronin (2002-05).
• Richmond was tabbed fourth in the A-10 preseason coaches' poll, with Charlotte as the preseason favorite.
• Of Richmond's first 22 games, 20 are set to be played at the friendly confines of Pitt Field.
• Niagara returns 23 letterwinners from a team that went 22-28 (10-14 MAAC) last season.
