Baseball Opens Series with Big Victory Over Cornell

Friday, March 18

Richmond, Va.

1 PM

University of Richmond

11-4

Cornell

2-7

Cornell

Richmond

03/18/2022 | Baseball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond baseball squad jumped out early and scored often Friday to collect a 15-6 victory over Cornell at Pitt Field.

Richmond (11-4) got on the board in the first inning, scoring on a wild pitch. The Spiders added three more runs in the second inning on three hit batters and two walks. Richmond batters were hit seven times, with Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) getting plunked twice.

Cornell (2-7) finally got on the score board, putting up single runs in the fourth and fifth to cut Richmond's lead in half at 4-2.

Spider starter Jeremy Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) collected the win to move to 1-2 on the season. Neff scattered four runs, three earned, on six hits, walked four and struck out five in 5.2 innings of work.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jared Sprague-Lott (Philadelphia, Pa.) doubled in Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.) to move to 5-2. Sprague-Lott finished the day going 3-for-4 with four RBI and reached on a hit-by-pitch. Toso led off the frame with a double and extended his hit streak to 15-straight games on a 3-for-4 day with six RBI and scored three runs.

After Cornell pushed in two more runs on a triple in the top of the sixth, Richmond roared back to life in the bottom of the frame. Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.) led off with a double then scored on Shane Gipson's (Chicago, Ill.) lone hit of the day. Gipson drew three walks and was hit by a pitch to reach base four more times. Toso picked up Gipson and Mathes on a base hit through the infield to push the score to 8-4. Sprague-Lott doubled to left to score Toso and Jake Elbeery (North Andover, Mass.) and give the Spiders a 10-4 lead.

Richmond reliever Josh Willitts (Southampton, N.J.) took over in the sixth and got the strikeout to end the inning. Willitts kept the Big Red off the board for more two innings, working around two hits and a walk while striking out two.

The Spiders tacked on four more runs in the seventh inning. Three runs came in on Toso's second double of the game and he scored on Sprague-Lott's base hit to right.

Hipsman led off the eighth inning with his second home run of the season to right field to go 2-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and a hit-by-pitch.

Taking over for Willitts in the ninth, Jack Buckley (Bronx, N.Y.) made his first appearance for the Spiders of the season and the first since he was diagnosed with cancer prior to the 2021 season. Cleared earlier this week to play, Buckley struck out the first batter he faced. He worked around two hits, a walk, a hit batter and allowed two runs in an inning of work.

Richmond and Cornell return to Pitt Field for the second game of the series Saturday, March 19. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN-Plus.