University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
William & Mary
Richmond Baseball Falls to Tribe, 9-5
03/27/2012 | Baseball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond Spiders baseball team dropped a 9-5 decision to the visiting William and Mary Tribe on Tuesday afternoon at Pitt Field. With the setback, the Spiders fall to 13-9 on the season while the Tribe improves to 17-0 on the year.
Redshirt junior Matt Zink went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Spiders in the loss. Senior Phil Ruzbarsky had two hits, including a solo home run, while sophomore Mike Small went 2-for-4 with two runs driven in.
On the mound, Andrew Blum (3-1) took the loss, pitching five innings and allowing four earned runs. Out of the bullpen, freshman James Lively and sophomore Andrew Brockett each tossed a scoreless inning.
After a scoreless first inning, William and Mary jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the top of the second. Richmond cut in to W&M advantage in the bottom of the third on a Small RBI single, making the Tribe lead 4-1 after three complete.
William and Mary added a run in the top of the fifth only to see the Spiders push two runs across in the bottom of the inning. Zink doubled down the left-field line to score the first run of the frame and was followed by Small who plated another with a RBI groundout. After five full, W&M led Richmond, 5-3.
In the sixth, Ruzbarsky pulled the Spiders to within a run on a solo home run right field. The senior's eighth homer of the season made the W&M lead just 5-4 with three innings to play.
The lead would not remain one for long, however, as William and Mary scored four times in the top of the seventh on a grand slam off the bat of freshman Michael Katz, his second homer of the day. The Spiders were able to cut the lead to four on a Zink RBI single in the eighth but would get no closer, as W&M held on for the 9-5 victory.
After playing their last 11 games at Pitt Field, the Richmond Spiders head to La Salle this weekend to open up Atlantic 10 conference play with a three-game series. The set gets underway on Friday in Philadelphia with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
