University of Richmond Athletics
Temple Rolls In Friday For Critical A-10 Series At Pitt Field
04/30/2009 | Baseball
April 30, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - With just four games at Pitt Field remaining in the 2009 regular season, the Richmond baseball team open a three-game Atlantic 10 set versus Temple Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes Sunday at noon on Senior Day.
WEEKEND LIVE LINKS:
SHORT HOPS
• Richmond owns an 11-4 advantage versus Temple in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1968 season. The Spiders dropped both games during the 1968 season to the Owls, and had rattled off 11-consecutive wins until Temple won the final two games of last season's series in Philadelphia.
• Richmond enters the weekend 18-19 overall, 7-11 in the A-10, and is still in the hunt for an A-10 Tournament berth with nine conference games remaining. Although 8.5 games back of A-10 leader Rhode Island, the Spiders sit just 2.5 games behind sixth place (the top six make the A-10 Tournament in Dayton). After this weekend Richmond is at Fordham (15-27, 9-9) and at La Salle (17-22, 6-11) for its final two conference sets.
• Freshman 2B Adam McConnell (pictured) extended his hitting streak to 12 games last week, which is the longest active streak on the club and ties junior 3B Cameron Brown for the longest this season. McConnell leads the team in hitting (.361), stolen bases (22), runs (40) and has struck out just 16 times in 155 at-bats. Senior RF Ryan Metzroth has a team-high seven homers.
• McConnell needs one more stolen base to the crack the Spiders' single-season top-10 list. His 22 thefts are the 13th-most in the NCAA this season -- and the second-most by a rookie.
• Close games have treated the Spiders well this season, as Richmond owns a 7-2 record in games decided by one run. The only two setback are the 8-7 loss at GW and the 6-5 loss at St. Bonaventure.
• A game removed from his best start of the season, RHP Stephen Owens gets the call for the Spiders Friday versus Temple. Owens scattered four hits and one run over a season-long 7.1 innings last Friday, helping Richmond win the series-opener. The righty , who fanned four and walked just one, owns the A-10's sixth-best opponent batting average (.240).
