University of Richmond Athletics
Baseball Chasing A-10 Tourney Bid In Regular-Season Finale At St. Joe's
05/18/2011 | Baseball
May 18, 2011
| Richmond (25-23-2, 12-9) vs. St. Joseph's (19-30, 9-12) | |
| Game 51 | Thursday, May 19 (12 p.m.) Bret Williams, LHP (UR) vs. Kyle Mullen, RHP (SJU) |
| Game 52 | Friday, May 20 (2 p.m.) Anthony Cafagna, RHP (UR) vs. Chad Simendinger, RHP (SJU) |
| Game 53 | Saturday, May 21 (11 p.m.) Matt Trent, RHP (UR) vs. A.J. Holland, RHP (SJU) |
| Location | Camden, N.J. | Campbell's Field | Weather |
| Radio | None |
| TV | None |
| Audio Webcast | Spider Sports Network (All Three Games) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker (All Three Games) |
| Game Information | UR Game Notes | UR Baseball Record Book | Twitter |
SHORT HOPS
• Richmond enters its final regular-season weekend at Saint Joseph's in the thick of a heated Atlantic 10 race with seven teams vying for the final four spots in the conference tournament. The series is underway Thursday at 12 p.m. at Campbell's Field in Camden, N.J.
• The series continues Friday at 12 p.m. and concludes Saturday at 11 a.m. Links to live streaming audio of all three games on the Spider Sports Network, and live stats can be found at RichmondSpiders.com.
• Both Charlotte (17-7) and Rhode Island (15-6) have already clinched berths, while Dayton (13-8), Richmond (12-9), Xavier (12-9), La Salle (12-9), Fordham (11-9-1), St. Bonaventure (11-10) and St. Joseph's (9-12) are within striking distance. Richmond owns a wealth of clinching scenarios, but the simplest are: Three wins; or Two wins, plus one loss by St. Bonaventure, no matter what else happens this weekend.
• Senior RF Mike Mergenthaler, who has missed just three games in his college career and plays his 200th college game Thursday at SJU, currently leads the team in doubles (16), homers (7) and RBI (41), while his 162 career RBI ranks in the Top 30 among all active Division-I players. His three-run blast in Sunday's eighth inning propelled the Spiders to a 10-8 win over the Billikens.
• Sophomore LHP Bret Williams has worked six innings or longer in each of his seven A-10 starts (8.0+ innings three times) and puts his 3.16 overall ERA on the line Friday. Williams fired seven shutout innings and allowed three singles in a May 6th 3-0 victory at No. 25 Charlotte. His ERA in A-10 play of 2.41 -- the league's sixth-best.
• For the second time in three weeks, junior C/DH Chris Cowell has earned the A-10 Player of the Week award after hitting .583 last week the a pair of homers, a double and seven RBI. Cowell is hitting a team-best .393 in A-10 play, which is the third-best average in the league and has homered in four of Richmond's last 11 A-10 games.
• Over its first seven A-10 series, Richmond has faced just one foe with a losing league record (Saint Louis) and the combined record of the Spiders' opponents is 88-62 in league play -- the toughest schedule thus far of any A-10 team.
MERGENTHALER LEADS A-10 IN OUTFIELD ASSISTS
• Mike Mergenthaler has posted 11 assists from the outfield this season, which leads the A-10 and is second-most in the NCAA (unofficial). Of his 11 assists, the lefty has gunned down four opponents on plays at the plate.
• The five outfield assists by CF Matt Zink are tied for the fourth-most in the league.
• Richmond's 18 outfield assists as a team leads the league, followed by 16 from UMass.
SPIDERS' LATE-SEASON SURGE
• Richmond launched eight homers, hit five doubles and scored 27 runs in winning the SLU series. The 27 runs allowed were the most by the Billikens, which entered last week as the A-10's second-best pitching staff, in an A-10 series this year.
• The eight homers in an A-10 series tied the school record set by the 2002 club that launched eight vs. UMass.
COMEBACK KIDS
• The Spiders have won 25 games, and have trailed at some point in 18 of those victories. Of the 18 comebacks, nine have occurred when the Spiders are trailing in the fifth inning or later and two when trailing after the seventh inning.
• One the flip side, Richmond is 21-1 when leading after the eighth inning.
• A big reason for Richmond's comeback success is its 50-29 advantage in seventh-inning scoring this season.
CLOSE CALLS
• Richmond is 12-12-2 this season in games decided by two runs or less (6-4 in those games in A-10 play) and the Spiders are just 1-4-2 in extra inning affairs.
• Last season, the Spiders were 10-11 in one or two-run games, but just 4-5 in the A-10 and missed the conference tournament by four games.
