University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
14-25, 0
George Mason
19-24, 0
Spiders Drop Tough 7-6 Decision to George Mason Friday
04/28/2017 | Baseball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The Spider Baseball team is no stranger to close games. Friday's Atlantic 10 match-up with George Mason was no different. Despite rallying back and cutting the Patriots' lead to four, the Spiders dropped a tough 7-6 decision in the series opener.
George Mason produced the first run of the game in the first, but the Patriots' lead would not last long as Richmond answered immediately in the bottom half. D.J. Lee got things started with a leadoff double. The center fielder advanced on a sacrifice bunt before crossing the plate on an RBI single from Daniel Brumbaugh, evening the score at 1-1.
Vinny Capra smashed the ball over the left field wall for his fourth home run of the season and extending Richmond's lead to 3-1.
On the hill, Robbie Baker had a no-hitter through five innings as he retired 11 consecutive batters. The Patriot's Brady Acker broke up Baker's no-no with a leadoff double in the sixth. The Patriots continued to threaten in the inning and they took a 5-3 lead on a Logan Driscoll gran slam in the sixth.
Baker gave way to Aaron Winkler after matching a career best nine strikeouts through 5.1 innings. The Patriots pushed one more across in the inning to make it a 6-3 ball game.
George Mason tacked on a run in the eighth to extend their lead to four, 7-3. Richmond would show their strength and resiliency, as they would cut their lead to one, 7-6, driving in three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Back-to-back singles from Lee and Capra sparked the fight before Brumbaugh doubled down the right field line to bring home the first run. Jonathan de Marte singled to drive in Capra as the Spiders continued to chip away at George Mason's lead. Kurtis Brown capped off the outburst to plate Brumbaugh, cutting Mason's lead to one, 7-6.
Peter Bovenzi would retire the side in the ninth, before the Spiders looked for another late rally. With two outs, Richmond loaded the bases. However, the rally would fall short as the Spiders dropped a heartbreaker.
The series with George Mason will continue tomorrow at Pitt Field at 1 PM.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: ZOMBRO, T. (5-4)
L: Baker, Robbie (3-5)
S: TOBIN, T. (2)
Batting:
2B: DRISCOLL, L. 1 ; ACKER, B. 1
3B: POPATAK, G. 1
HR: DRISCOLL, L. 1
RBI: DRISCOLL, L. 4 ; KELLY, T. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: SMITH, M. 2 ; STUREK, F. 1 ; DRISCOLL, L. 2 ; POPATAK, G. 1 ; ACKER, B. 1
SB: SMITH, M. 1
CS: Aponte, A. 1
Batting:
2B: Lee, D.J. 1 ; Brumbaugh, Daniel 1
HR: Capra, Vinny 1
RBI: Capra, Vinny 2 ; Brumbaugh, Daniel 2 ; de Marte, Jonathan 2 ; Brown, Kurtis 1
SH: Capra, Vinny 1 ; Wood, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lee, D.J. 2 ; Capra, Vinny 2 ; Brumbaugh, Daniel 1 ; Cook, Justin 1
CS: Brumbaugh, Daniel 1
HBP: Brumbaugh, Daniel 1
