Seniors Come Up Big to Take the Series From Saint Louis

Saturday, May 18

Pitt Field

Noon

University of Richmond

27-23-1, 13-8

Saint Louis

25-28, 13-11

Saint Louis

Richmond

Photo by: Keith Lucas

Seniors Come Up Big to Take the Series From Saint Louis

05/18/2019 | Baseball

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RICHMOND, Va. – Every senior that stepped in the batter's box for the Richmond Spiders Saturday afternoon had at least one hit as Richmond baseball rolled to an 11-3 win over the Saint Louis Billikens in the final home game at Pitt Field this season. With the win, Richmond took the series from Saint Louis and earned the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 Tournament next week in The Bronx. This is the fifth-straight Atlantic 10 series win for the Spiders, all of which have been decided in the final game of the series. The Spiders improved to 27-23-1 and 13-8 in Atlantic 10 play. Saint Louis falls to 25-28 overall and 13-11 in league action.

The seniors paced the Spider offense that went for 15 hits. Michael Strait (Cumming, Ga.) made the most of his second start of the season, fourth of his career, going 3-for-4 with three doubles, an RBI and scored three times. Sage Bruhl (Northbrook, ill.) added a 2-for-4 game with two runs scored and an RBI. Seniors Tyler Plantier (Poway, Calif.), Kyle Schmidt (Smithville, Texas), A.J. Kloehn (Canton, Ohio) and D.J. Lee (Frankfort, Ill.) each had at least one hit in the game. Redshirt junior Anthony Forte (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored, two walks and hit his 12^th home run of the season. Freshman Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.) added a 3-for-4 day with a home run, two RBI and scored once.

Four pitchers combined in the win. Aaron Winkler (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) got the start, going 3.0 innings, allowing two earned runs and scattering four hits on 51 pitches. Lowell Schipper (Santa Monica, Calif.) threw the next 3.0 innings, allowing a run and striking out three hitters. Antonio Balducci (Mechanicsville, Va.) tossed two scoreless innings, striking out three. Sammy Senders (Potomac, Md.) finished the game out in the ninth, tossing a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

Saint Louis scored in the first two innings of the game. A lead-off double from Colten Schild started the game and a stolen base moved him to third. A ground ball to the shortstop retired Jake Garella, but allowed the run to score. In the second inning, Ryan Calhoun lifted a two-strike offering out to left field for his second home run of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.

Richmond tied it up in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a couple misplays by the Saint Louis defense. Strait led off the inning with a double and advanced to third after a Bruhl single. A passed ball brought in Strait for the first run of the game and another single put runners on the corners. Forte hit a ball up the middle but hustled down the line to reach after the Billiken first baseman dropped the relay to bring in the tying run.

The Spiders took the lead in the third. With a runner on, Strait doubled to the gap in right center to bring in Daniel Little (Nicholasville, Ky.) from first and the Spiders took the 3-2 lead.

Saint Louis tied the game the next half inning, scoring a run with an RBI ground out from the cleanup hitter.

The Spiders responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. Two walks put a couple runners in scoring position for the senior catcher, Schmidt who drove a single back up the middle to bring in a pair and give the Spiders the lead. After Schmidt was lifted for a pinch runner, Hipsman connected on his second home run of the season to extend the lead to 7-3.

Over the final four innings, the Spiders pushed across four more runs. Strait scored the solo run in the sixth, doubling to lead off the inning and moving to third on a sacrifice bunt from Jordan Schulefand (Parkland, Fla.). Bruhl knocked him in with a single up the middle. Strait ignited the rally in the seventh, reaching on an error with two outs. Mark Ready (Dallas, Texas) blooped a single to right field to bring him in and extend the lead before a two-run home run from Forte drove in the final two runs of the game, giving the Spiders the 11-3 win.

The Spiders are back in action next Wednesday in the first game of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament at Houlihan Park in The Bronx. Richmond will face the host, the Fordham Rams, in the 5 p.m. game.

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