Schipper's Strong Start Leads Baseball Over William & Mary

Wednesday, April 24

Pitt Field

3 PM

University of Richmond

21-16-1

William & Mary

23-18

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
William and Mary	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5
Richmond	1	0	4	1	1	0	1	4	X	12	13	0

Photo by: Elle Forte - Elle Forte Photography

Schipper's Strong Start Leads Baseball Over William & Mary

04/24/2019 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

RICHMOND, Va. – Junior Lowell Schipper (Santa Monica, Calif.) pitched one of the best games of his career Wednesday night against the William and Mary Tribe at Pitt Field. The right-hander tossed a career-high 5.0 innings, striking out another career-best seven hitters as he earned his first career win. The Spider offense added 13 hits behind Schipper's strong start to defeat William & Mary 12-2. The Spiders improve to 21-16-1 on the season and William & Mary falls to 23-18. Freshman Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.) added his first career home run in the win.

Schipper started the game, retiring the first two hitters he saw before allowing a walk and a home run. He didn't allow a hit over the next 4.1 innings as the only two hitters to reach base came via hit by pitches. Garrett Aylor (Austin, Texas) was the first reliever on. Aylor worked 2.0 innings with two strikeouts. Antonio Balducci (Mechanicsville, Va.) added a scoreless inning with a strikeout. Layne Looney (Dallas, Texas) worked a clean ninth, retiring all three hitters in order.

Hipsman powered the Spider offense, finishing 2-for-2 with two RBI and scored twice to go with his first career long ball. Jordan Schulefand (Parkland, Fla.), Tyler Plantier (Poway, Calif.), Anthony Forte (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Kyle Schmidt (Smithville, Texas) each added a pair of hits. Plantier drove in a pair and scored twice as Schmidt led the team with three RBI. Schmidt and Forte each scored one run.

William & Mary jumped ahead in the top of the first inning after Zach Pearson hit a two-run home run.

The Spiders cut into the lead in the bottom of the frame. Schulefand singled and moved up to third after a failed pick-off attempt got away from the Tribe first baseman. Sage Bruhl (Northbrook, Ill.) drove a single the other way to bring him in and cut the lead in half.

Richmond took its first lead of the game, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third. Hipsman led the inning off by legging out an infield single, and Schulefand reached on a bunt single. After a walk loaded the bases, Plantier dropped a single to center field to score two. Another single loaded the bases up for Schmidt who copied Plantier's attack, dropping a single to shallow center to score two more and extend the lead to 5-2, Spiders.

The Spiders added solo runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings. Hipsman hit his first career home run for the score in the fourth inning, and D.J. Lee (Frankfort, Ill.) scored an unearned run after stealing a base in the bottom of the fifth. Richmond added another unearned run from Lee in the bottom of the seventh to add some insurance. UR added four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to extend the lead to 12-2.

Richmond is back in action this weekend as it heads to Olean, N.Y. for an Atlantic 10 matchup with the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. The three-game series is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday's games scheduled to be played at noon.

-- UR --