University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
VCU
VCU Avoids Season Sweep With 9-4 Win Tuesday At The Diamond
05/10/2011 | Baseball
May 10, 2011
RICHMOND - VCU grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second inning and made it stand as the Rams snapped Richmond's three-game winning streak in the series with a 9-4 win Tuesday night at The Diamond. Bryan Conway and Mike Mergenthaler combined for five hits and a pair of doubles for the Spiders.
Richmond, which returns home Friday to open a crucial A-10 series versus Saint Louis, slipped to 23-22-2 overall as VCU improved to 19-28.
Sophomore Jacob Mayers, who made his first start on the mound in two months as he rehabs a broken finger, showed some rust and allowed four hits and four runs over three innings of work.
Mayers was tagged the loss (1-2), while VCU starter Blake Hauser made amends for his loss versus the Spiders earlier this season by firing 5.2 innings with two runs and five strikeouts to get the victory (3-3).
Freshman JB Gadd and Mergenthaler rifled back-to-back doubles off Hauser in the first inning as the Spiders grabbed a 1-0 advantage. But the Rams drew even in the bottom half, then jumped ahead 3-1 thanks to Bill Cullen's two-run ground-rule double down the right-field line.
Richmond cut the margin in half in the fourth when Conway doubled home Phil Ruzbarsky, but VCU answered again with one in the fourth, two in the fifth and single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth off four different Spider relievers.
The Spiders didn't score after loading the bases with two outs in the sixth, generated just a run (a Bret Williams' RBI ground out) after loading the bases with no outs in the eighth and got just an RBI single from Chris Cowell after putting the first two on in the ninth.
Richmond left 11 stranded in the game, including seven in scoring position.
Friday's game versus Saint Louis starts at 3 p.m. at Pitt Field.
