Hipsman Blasts Grand Slam in Spiders Loss to Villanova

Saturday, March 26

Richmond, Va.

1 PM

University of Richmond

12-7

Villanova

5-13-1

Villanova

Richmond

Hipsman Blasts Grand Slam in Spiders Loss to Villanova

03/26/2022 | Baseball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond baseball team's comeback fell short Saturday, dropping a 14-12 decision to Villanova at Pitt Field.

Richmond (12-7) and Villanova (5-13-1) close out the weekend series Sunday at Pitt Field with first pitch set for noon.

Spiders starter Brock Weirather (Polk City, Fla.) opened the game with a quick top of the first, retiring the side in order.

In the bottom half of the inning, Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) led off with a double and quickly scored on Dominic Toso's (Philadelphia, Pa.) sharp hit through the infield. Toso has now hit in 19 straight-games and has 41 hits on the season. With Toso and Jared Sprague-Lott (Philadelphia, Pa.) on base, Jake Elbeery (North Andover, Mass.) doubled to score both and give the Spiders a 3-0 lead.

Villanova cut into the Spiders lead in the third, scoring two runs on two hit and an error.

Andrew Papantonis (Lebanon Township, N.J.) pushed the Spiders lead to two runs with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third, scoring Sprague-Lott who legged out a triple.

The Wildcats bats broke open the game in the fourth, scoring five runs on five hits and two walks to take a 7-4 lead and knock out Weirather out of the game. Weirather (3-1) scattered seven runs on eight hits, walking and striking out three, with one hit batter in 3.2 innings of work.

Richmond reliever Brenden Argomaniz (Claremont, Calif.) took over for Weirather, allowing six runs on six hits, with two hit batters and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of action. Jake Michal (Baltimore, Md.) collected one out, allowing one run on two walks and one hit batter.

Esteban Rodriguez (Doral, Fla.) took over on the hill with two outs and the bases loaded, down 13-5. He allowed one run to score before getting out of the frame with a strikeout. Rodriguez locked in and held the Wildcats scoreless over the final three innings, recording eight more strikeouts for a career-high nine in total and walked two.

Richmond bats came alive in the sixth. Beal led off with an infield single for his third hit on the day and two pitches later Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.) homered to dead center, now down 14-7. Toso followed with a base hit and Sprague-Lott was hit by a pitch before Shane Gipson (Chicago, Ill.) drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. On the first pitch he saw, Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.) hit a grand slam down the right field line, putting the Spiders within three, 13-11. With his third home run of the year, Hipsman now has five-straight multi-hit games.

D.J. Pacheco (Danvers, Mass.) doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth to flip the lineup to the top of the order. He scored on a wild pitch two batters later, but the Spiders were unable to extend the inning, falling 14-12.