Jason Neff Hits Walk-Off Home Run to Defeat St. Thomas, 4-3, in 12 inn.

Friday, February 25

Richmond, Va.

1 PM

University of Richmond

4-1

St. Thomas

1-5

St Thomas

Richmond

Photo by: Stephen Blue

Jason Neff Hits Walk-Off Home Run to Defeat St. Thomas, 4-3, in 12 inn.

02/25/2022 | Baseball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – There were a lot of firsts for University of Richmond sophomore catcher Jason Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) on Friday. He got his first career start behind the plate. It was his first time since state playoffs their senior year of high school getting to catch his twin brother Jeremy in a game. And he collected his first collegiate hit.

It just happened to be a walk-off home run to lead off the bottom of the 12^th for the 4-3 victory over St. Thomas (MN) at Pitt Field and extended the Spiders winning streak to four-straight.

"Our pitching was outstanding today," head coach Tracy Woodson said. "Jeremy tired a bit and then what Josh and Eli did out the pen was tremendous."

"We had a lot of hard-hit balls today; they just were right at people." Woodson continued. "Three solo home runs and the fact that Jason's first hit was a walk off home run was an exciting way to win it."

"At the beginning of the season, we talked about how different guys were going to have to step up and contribute. And so far, that's happened every game."

Richmond broke open the game in the third, taking a 2-0 lead on back-to-back solo home runs. Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) hit his first home run of the season in the first pitch of his at-bat. The next batter, on an 0-2 count, Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.) blasted his first of the season. Both home runs went to right center field, landing within feet of each other.

Spider starter Jeremy Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) kept St. Thomas (1-5) off the board until the fifth inning. He scattered three unearned runs on four hits, three walks and five strike outs in 4.2 innings of work.

Sophomore Josh Willitts (Southampton, N.J.) got the final out in the fifth, then threw four scoreless innings. He walked one and hit one, and picked up a career-high nine strikeouts, including striking out the side in the seventh.

Eli Kimbell (New York, N.Y.) took the ball starting in the 10th, working around two walks and an error with three strikeouts, facing the minimum nine batters in three total innings to collect the victory.

Along with the three solo home runs, the Spider offense tagged St. Thomas pitchers for a total seven hits. Freshman Jake Elbeery (North Andover, Mass.) picked up two base hits, while Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) and Jared Sprague-Lott (Philadelphia, Pa.) extended their hitting streaks with singles of their own.

Richmond is back in action Saturday, Feb. 26 against Sacred Heart at Pitt Field. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN Plus.