Spiders Fall To North Florida In Ninth Inning

Saturday, February 15

Jacksonville, Fla.

6:00 PM

University of Richmond

0-2

North Florida

2-0

Richmond

North Florida

02/16/2014 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Richmond Athletics

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After fighting back to tie the game, the Richmond Spiders lost on a walk-off to North Florida, 4-3, in the UNF Best Bet Classic on Saturday night. With the loss, Richmond falls to 0-2 on the season, while UNF improves to 2-0.

Sophomore Doug Kraeger had his best day in a Spider uniform, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBI. Senior Adam Forrer had a double for the Spiders while senior Mike Small and freshman Kurtis Brown also had hits in the setback.

Redshirt sophomore Jonathan de Marte was solid in his first start of the season, tossing five strong innings. De Marte allowed three runs on six hits while striking out four. Junior LHP Zak Sterling (0-1) took the hard-fought loss despite a strong day on the mound, allowing just one run in 3.1 innings of work.

Richmond struck early on Saturday night against the Ospreys, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Forrer started things with a double to left-center field and later moved to third on a groundout. One batter later, the senior scampered home on a wild pitch to give the Spiders the early advantage.

The host Ospreys mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the second, however, taking a 3-1 lead with four-straight hits.

In the top of the fourth inning, Richmond cut the North Florida lead in half with two swings. Leading off the frame, Brown singled sharply up the middle. Kraeger followed, blasting a double over the UNF centerfielder's head to the wall, easily plating Brown from first to make the Ospreys' lead 3-2.

Still trailing by one in the top of the sixth, Kraeger came up big again for the Spiders. With two outs, the sophomore belted his first career home run over the fence in left center field, tying the game at 3-3 with his mammoth shot.

With the Ospreys threatening to take the lead right back in the bottom of the inning, the Richmond defense came up with a huge play. With runners at the corners and one out, the Spiders turned a 5-4-3 double play, negating the go-ahead UNF run with the big-time play. Through six complete, the game was knotted at 3-3.

Richmond was unable to get the go-ahead run across in the final three innings, allowing North Florida to have a chance for a walk-off in the ninth. That's just what the Ospreys were able to do, winning the game with a RBI single in the bottom of the frame.

The Richmond Spiders will wrap up play at the UNF Best Bet Classic on Sunday when the team faces Liberty at 12 p.m.