Beckwith's Big Night Powers Spiders Past Elon, 16-4

Thursday, May 19

Burlington, NC

6:30 PM

University of Richmond

27-24

Elon

25-26

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Richmond	0	4	0	6	2	0	0	0	4	16	9	0
Elon	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	5	1

05/20/2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Richmond Athletics

ELON, N.C. – Runs weren't hard to come by for the University of Richmond baseball team on Thursday evening, as the Spiders (27-24) powered past Elon, 16-4. Leading the charge was senior shortstop Tyler Beckwith, who set a career-high with eight RBIs thanks to two grand slams on the evening.

“It was a pretty special night for Tyler and he's really coming on strong in the last couple games, which is great to see,” Head Coach Tracy Woodson said. “Their pitching gave us some opportunities with some free base runners tonight and we were able to take advantage of them and put a lot of runs on the board.”

Beckwith finished the night going 3-for-6 at the plate with eight RBIs and three runs scored, while sophomore Daniel Brumbaugh also had three hits on the night. Freshman D.J. Lee reached base all five trips to the plate, scoring four runs and driving in three RBIs with his first homerun of the season.

It was the second largest margin of victory and third highest run output of the season for the Spiders.

On the mound, sophomore Keenan Bartlett and freshman Matt Olson allowed just three hits and one run over the first eight innings of work, combining for 11 strikeouts.

“I really liked our approach tonight in all facets, I thought we played really loose and really aggressive, which was great to see,” Woodson added.

Elon (25-26) looked to grab an early lead in the first, but the opportunity was denied as the runner was thrown out at the plate, keeping the game scoreless through one.

The Spiders opened up the scoring in the second, plating four runs in the frame. Beckwith scored the first run of the inning after he and Kurtis Brown led off with back-to-back single and scored on an RBI groundout. D.J. Lee capped off the inning with a three-run homer to give Richmond a 4-0 advantage.

Elon responded by loading the bases in the bottom half of the inning. Bartlett struck out a pair before the Phoenix scratched across a run and got on the board.

Richmond continued its outburst in the fourth as they extended their lead, 10-1. The Spiders capitalized on a couple wild pitches and a bases loaded situation to take a five-run advantage. That wouldn't be all, as Beckwith blasted a grand slam over the right field wall to extend the Spiders' lead to 10-1.

The Spiders tacked on a pair in the fifth to take an eleven-run lead, 12-1 as Lee and Michael Morman crossed the plate on wild pitches.

Elon looked to push some runs across in the bottom half of the inning. Olson struck out the first two batters he faced before the Phoenix got a pair of base runners on, but he pitched out of the jam recording his third strikeout of the inning.

Richmond loaded the bases again in the ninth as Beckwith stepped into the box. One grand slam wasn't good enough for the senior as he blasted his second grand slam of the night to put the Spiders ahead, 16-1.

In Olson's stellar relief outing he continued what Bartlett started, holding Elon at bay. Olson allowed just one-hit and struck out a career-best seven in his four innings of work, before giving way to Jonathan de Marte who made his first mound appearance of the season.

The Phoenix plated three runs in bottom of the ninth to make it 16-4, but it wouldn't be enough as Richmond had secured the victory.

With rain expected in North Carolina tomorrow night, game two of the series has been moved up to a 4:00 p.m. start.