Baseball Falters Late in Loss at VMI

Tuesday, April 16

Lexington, VA

6 PM

University of Richmond

18-15-1

VMI

10-27

Richmond

VMI

Photo by: Elle Forte - Elle Forte Photography

04/16/2019 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LEXINGTON, Va. – Richmond baseball looked to be in good shape late in Tuesday's contest with the VMI Keydets in Lexington, holding a 10-4 advantage in the eighth inning. The Keydets refused to go away as they rallied to force extra innings before taking Tuesday's contest by an 11-10 tally in 11 innings. Richmond falls to 18-15-1 on the season, while VMI improves to 10-27 on the year.

Aaron Winkler (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) started on the hill, going 2.2 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs in his outing. Jacob Marcus (Malvern, Pa.) went the next 3.1 innings striking out three hitters giving up a hit. Antonio Balducci (Mechanicsville, Va.) was next on, issuing a pair of walks before giving way to Garrett Aylor (Austin, Texas). Aylor went 1.1 innings with a couple walks and gave up two earned runs.

Layne Looney (Dallas, Texas) came on in the eighth, recording an out but allowed two hits and two earned runs. Brian Craven (Hingham, Mass.) recorded the final out with the bases loaded in the eighth and worked the ninth, allowing two runs on three hits and picking up a pair of strikeouts. Matt Olson (Mableton, Ga.) suffered the loss, throwing the final 1.2 innings, allowing the game-winning run in the 11^th to go with a strikeout.

The Spider offense had eight players contribute hits in the contest as hitters 2-6 in the lineup each recorded multiple hits in the game. Anthony Forte (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) led the team with a 3-for-4 performance with two doubles, drove in a run and scored three times. Kyle Schmidt (Smithville, Texas) added a 2-for-6 game, driving in three runs with a double and a home run. Sage Bruhl (Northbrook, Ill.) and Tyler Plantier (Poway, Calif.) each finished 2-for-6 as Plantier drove in two with a double and Bruhl scored three times to go with a double. D.J. Lee (Frankfort, Ill.) added a 2-for-4 performance as he drove in a run.

The Spiders jumped out to a lead on the first pitch as Jordan Schulefand (Parkland, Fla.) hit a solo home run down the line in left. Bruhl followed with a double and Plantier drove him in with a single up the middle. The Spiders added to their lead in the third as Forte drew a walk and moved up on a balk. Lee went the opposite way with an outside pitch to drive in the run and extend the lead to 3-0.

The Keydets cut into the Spider lead in the bottom of the third. A lead-off double from Ryan Smoot started the rally as a sacrifice bunt and a ground out from Will Knight brought in the first run. With two outs, back-to-back doubles from Jake Huggins and Nathan Loyd added the second run to cut the lead down to one.

Richmond doubled its score with one swing of the bat in the top of the fifth. A hit by pitch and a walk put two on for Schmidt who drilled his second home run of the season to let field to put the Spiders up 6-2.

VMI used a pair of free passes to trim the lead down to two in the seventh. After walks put two on for the top of the order, a double from Calen Nuccio brought in a run before Knight drove a run in with a groundout.

The Spiders responded the next half inning, sending all nine in the lineup to the plate as they scored four runs on three hits and an error, all with two outs. Bruhl drove in a run with a single to center field. Forte added another with a double to the opposite field and Schmidt reached on an error that allowed Forte to score to put Richmond up 10-4.

VMI followed suit in the bottom of the frame, scoring four runs of its own to cut the lead back down to two as Richmond went to the final inning leading 10-8. The Keydets continued the rally in the bottom of the ninth as Ryan Hatten hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 10 and force extra innings.

The Keydets got the run needed to earn the victory in the bottom of the 11^th. A hit by pitch and a walk put two on before a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly delivered the game-winning run.

The Spiders are back in action this weekend as they host the conference-leading VCU Rams in Atlantic 10 action at Pitt Field. Richmond and VCU will play Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon. Saturday's game is also Richmond baseball's Go4thGoal game, where the team will be raising awareness for pediatric cancer.

-- UR --