University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
15-14
Norfolk State
10-20
Spider Baseball Offense Explodes Against Norfolk State
04/12/2022 | Baseball
Richmond (15-14) returns to Atlantic 10 play Friday to host crosstown rival VCU at Pitt Field. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday, with Saturday and Sunday contests with 1 p.m. starts.
Norfolk State (10-20) was up 6-0 after 2.5 innings, tagging Richmond starter Rob Ready (Cape May, N.J.) for two earned runs on three hits, a walk and a strikeout. Reliever Esteban Rodriguez (Doral, Fla.) took over in the third, allowing four runs on five hits before he got the strikeout to end the frame.
The Spiders combined nine hits, three walks and two hit batters to score 12 runs in the bottom of the third. All nine Spider starters reached base at least twice in the game.
Jason Neff (West Palm Beach, Fla.) opened the bottom of the third with a solo shot to center. Dominic Toso (Philadelphia, Pa.) singled to clear the bases and score D.J. Pacheco (Danvers, Mass.) and Alden Mathes (Broomall, Pa.). Jake Elbeery (North Andover, Mass.) singled in Toso, then Jared Sprague-Lott (Philadelphia, Pa.) followed with an RBI single to push in Johnny Hipsman (Chester, N.Y.) who reached with a double.
After Shane Gipson (Chicago, Ill.) drew a walk to load the bases Neff, in his second at-bat of the inning, was hit to force in the tying run at 6-all. Pacheco drew a walk to force in a run to take the lead. Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) was hit and picked up the RBI for the eighth run of the frame. Mathes doubled to tally two of his four RBI on the day and was followed by Toso tallying his third RBI of the frame. Elbeery collected a sacrifice fly RBI as Mathes scored the 12th run of the frame.
Neff tallied a run in the fourth, scoring on a Spartan wild pitch, to push the Spiders lead to 13-6.
Norfolk State added single runs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth, but couldn't cut in to the deficit as Richmond put up four in the sixth, three in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
Beal collected a career-high five RBI on four hits, walk and hit by pitch to extend his on-base streak to 28 games. Pacheco notched career highs in runs (3), RBI (3) and walks (3).
Rodriguez picked up the win to go to 1-1 on the season, finishing with five earned runs on seven hits, walked one, struck out one and hit two in 2.1 innings. Jack Buckley (Bronx, N.Y.) allowed one run on two hits, a walk, a hit batter and picked up three strikeouts in 2.1 innings while Winston Allen (Morristown, N.J.) allowed one run on three hits and tallied three strikeouts in an inning and a third. Jake Michel (Baltimore, Md.) threw the ninth, allowing one run on one hit and a walk.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rodriguez, Esteban (1-1)
L: STANLEY,Matt (0-2)
Batting:
2B: CLEVELAND,Brandon 1 ; BROWN,Dionte 1 ; WALKER,Kam 1
3B: BROWN,Dionte 1
HR: SHAFFER,Steven 1
RBI: CLEVELAND,Brandon 1 ; COUNCIL,Jacob 1 ; BROWN,Dionte 2 ; SHAFFER,Steven 4 ; WALKER,Kam 2
Base Running:
RUNS: CLEVELAND,Brandon 1 ; RODRIGUEZ,Raphy 1 ; BRANDON,Tanner 1 ; COUNCIL,Jacob 2 ; BROWN,Dionte 2 ; SHAFFER,Steven 2 ; PERRY,Malcolm 1
SB: BROWN,Dionte 1 ; SHAFFER,Steven 1
CS: WALKER,Kam 1
HBP: CLEVELAND,Brandon 1 ; COUNCIL,Jacob 1 ; SHAFFER,Steven 1
Batting:
2B: Mathes, Alden 1 ; Hipsman, Johnny 1 ; Sprague-Lott, Jared 1
HR: Neff, Jason 1
RBI: Beal, Christian 5 ; Mathes, Alden 4 ; Toso, Dominic 3 ; Elbeery, Jake 2 ; Sprague-Lott, Jared 1 ; Neff, Jason 2 ; Pacheco, D.J. 3
SF: Mathes, Alden 1 ; Elbeery, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Beal, Christian 2 ; Mathes, Alden 2 ; Toso, Dominic 1 ; Hipsman, Johnny 2 ; Elbeery, Jake 1 ; Sprague-Lott, Jared 4 ; Gipson, Shane 3 ; Neff, Jason 4 ; Pacheco, D.J. 3
HBP: Beal, Christian 1 ; Neff, Jason 1 ; Pacheco, D.J. 1
